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JAMAICA 2 / NIGERIA 2, February 23, 1998. |
KINGSTON, Jamaica , February 23, 1998 (AP). Jamaica and Nigeria played to a 2-2 tie in a friendly match here Sunday. Rashidi Yekini, one of Nigeria's stars in the 1994 World Cup, gave the African team the lead in the 34th minute by taking advantage of a defensive blunder to crash home from 20 yards. But two free-kick goals in three minutes from the Jamaicans -- defender Ian Goodison's in the 37th minute and forward Andy Williams' in the 40th -- gave the home team the upper hand at halftime. Goodison beat goalkeeper Abiodun Baruwa at the near post, while Williams edged in a curling 25-yard kick. Nigeria stepped up their game in the second half with the introduction of the speedy Samson Siasia, another key player from the 1994 World Cup. Siasa came close to scoring in the 68th minute when his diving header struck the crossbar. In the 77th minute he struck again, tucking a loose ball out of the grasp of goalkeeper Aaron Lawrence to level the score. The tie means Jamaica is still unbeaten in the last 33 of its home games -- a streak it has maintained for more than three years. The game was a friendly match intended as a warm-up for the World Cup final in France in June, and both sides were playing without some of their top players. Jamaican goalkeeper and captain Warren Barrett, defenders Durrant Brown and Steve Malcolm, and midfielder Theodore Whitmore were recovering from injuries suffered in a car crash on Thursday. Nigerian striker Finidi George and Victor Ikpeba, the 1997 African Footballer of the Year, were also absent from Sunday's game. 
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