Nigeria Smash Five Past New Zealand To Qualify For Last Eight Of U-17 World Cup

Nigeria recorded the biggest win of the 2009 FIFA Under-17 World Cup with a 5-0 victory over New Zealand to book their place in the quarter-final of the tournament.

Nigeria will now face Korea, who defeated Mexico 5-3 on penalties after the teams were deadlocked at 1-1 after extra-time.

Spain are also through to the last eight after a 4-1 spanking of Burkina Faso, while Uruguay booked their place in the next round with a 2-1 victory over Iran. Spain and Uruguay will now clash in one of the quarter-finals.

Against New Zealand, the Golden Eaglets dominated from start to finish and opened the scoring in the 14th minute through Edafe Egbebi, who scored with a left-foot scorcher with a great assist by Terry Envoh.

Nigeria doubled their lead 10 minutes later when Stanley Okoro smashed home after New Zealand goalkeeper Coey Turipa spilled a shot.

Egbedi grabbed his second goal of the game on 28 minutes when he collected a short pass in the area and curled another left-footed strike inside the far post. Five minutes later, things went from bad to worse for the young Kiwis as Cameron Lindsay was given his marching orders for a nasty tackle.

The second half saw the Nigerians turn on the style, focusing more on impressing the Abuja National Stadium crowd with their deft flicks and cheeky tricks than on putting the ball in the Kiwis' net.

Substitute Sani Emmanuel grabbed two goals in the space of four minutes (74' and 79') to make it 5-0 and put the result beyond all doubt. Both strikes were created by the lively Okoro. Emmanuel has thus far netted three goals.

Samm Audu, Goal.com