Five-goal Nigeria see hopes dashed

The Super Eagles' hopes ended when Angola beat Rwanda 1-0 in Kigali to win Group 4 in the African zone and book a first appearance in the finals.

Both Nigeria and Angola finished on 21 points each but the Angolans went through to the finals in Germany next summer courtesy of their superior head-to-head record against the Eagles. They had beaten Nigeria 1-0 in Luanda and drawn 1-1 in Abuja.

Nigeria had qualified for the last three FIFA World Cup finals, reaching the second round in 1994 and 1998. "It's a big blow that we will not be going to the World Cup after all. We did our best to save the situation but it was not good enough at the end of the day," said Nigeria coach Austin Eguavoen.

"What we now need to do is to try to pick up the pieces both as a team and as individuals. If we don't do that, we could be down forever."

Inter Milan striker Obafemi Martins opened the scoring in the 36th minute when he blasted a pull-back by Taye Taiwo past goalkeeper Energy Murambadoro.

He scored a second goal from the penalty spot after 74 minutes when substitute Nwankwo Kanu was brought down inside the box. Dynamo Kiev midfielder Yusuf Ayila scored his second goal in as many starts for Nigeria when he fired home inside the box six minutes after the interval.

Zimbabwe pulled a goal back soon after when Auxerre striker Benjamin Mwaruwari outjumped the Nigerian defence before nodding a corner-kick past Vincent Enyeama.

Kanu scored the Super Eagles' fourth goal in the 79th minute when he converted the resultant penalty after a goal-bound Osaze Odemwingie was brought down inside the box. Odemwingie completed the rout in stoppage time when he powered home a terrific shot which was helped in by the Zimbabwe goalkeeper.

Nigeria, who were without injured skipper Jay Jay Okocha, began the game by going for goals right from the kick-off with the youthful strike force of Martins and Makinwa leading the attack but the Warriors from Zimbabwe held their own.

Marseille defender Taiwo fired two shots at the Zimbabwe goal area in the eighth and 14th minutes but on both occasions they failed to find the target. Zimbabwe also had a chance on 12 minutes but goalkeeper Enyeama saved Shingayi Kaondera's free-kick.

It was not until the 26th minute that the home team carved out a real scoring chance when Lille forward Odemwingie drove into the Zimbabwe box but he failed to direct his shot on target.

However, ten minutes later Martins grabbed his sixth goal of the qualifying tournament when he connected after a brilliant run by Taiwo from the left flank to set Nigeria on their way.