GOAL! Uruguay’s Diego Forlan celebrates after scoring the winning goal against Nigeria during their Confederations Cup Group B clash at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador on Thursday. (Reuters)

AFP/Salvador


Diego Forlan marked his 100th international appearance with a magnificent winning goal as Uruguay closed on the Confederations Cup semi-finals by beating chief Group B rivals Nigeria 2-1 in Salvador on Thursday.
The 34-year-old completed a sweeping move in the 51st minute to score his 34th international goal, enabling him to reclaim the national scoring record from teammate Luis Suarez, who had equalled it in the 2-1 loss to Spain.
Captain Diego Lugano bundled Uruguay ahead in the 19th minute, only for Chelsea midfielder John Mikel Obi to equalise for Nigeria with a skilfully taken goal eight minutes before half-time.
Victory means group leaders Spain, who thrashed minnows Tahiti 10-0 earlier in the day, must wait to confirm their place in the semi-finals.
Nigeria and Uruguay will go into tomorrow’s final group fixtures level on three points, but while Oscar Tabarez’s Uruguay are practically assured of victory over Tahiti, Stephen Keshi’s Nigeria are obliged to tackle the mighty Spain.
Nigeria enjoyed the lion’s share of support from a meagre crowd, who made their way to Arena Fonte Nova despite widespread protests in Salvador over the alleged misallocation of government funds, but it was Uruguay who made the early running.
Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama had to turn a rising strike from Cristian Rodriguez over the bar in the first minute, and despite a brief flurry of Nigerian attacks, it was Uruguay who broke the deadlock.
Forlan’s left-wing corner was cleared back to him and although his low cross lacked power and Edinson Cavani failed with an attempted back-heel at the near post, Lugano was on hand to scuff the ball home.
Nigeria continued to press forward boldly, however, and in the 37th minute they equalised with a delightful goal.
Mikel has only scored two goals in seven seasons for Chelsea, but he showed a striker’s instincts to evade Lugano with a subtle feint before stroking a left-foot shot into the top-left corner.
Nnamdi Oduamadi, who claimed a hat-trick in Nigeria’s 6-1 rout of Tahiti, had to go off injured after a foul by Egidio Arevalo Rios, but the African champions finished the half strongly.
It would have been 2-0 at the interval had Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera not shown sharp reflexes to tip over a header from his own defender Diego Godin that seemed destined to drop beneath the bar.
Nigeria began the second period just as gamely, but six minutes in, Forlan struck with a goal of luminous quality involving all three of Uruguay’s attacking stars.
Suarez advanced down the inside-right channel and knocked the ball inside to Cavani, who immediately swept a pass wide to Forlan, and the man of the hour watched the ball come across him before bludgeoning an emphatic left-foot shot past Enyeama.
Cavani should have twice stretched Uruguay’s lead, blazing wastefully over when clean through in the 70th minute and then heading off-target from a Forlan free-kick, but Nigeria were unable to profit.

Torres, Villa stake claims with goal glut


Strike duo Fernando Torres and David Villa pressed their claims for a first-team place with seven goals in Spain’s 10-0 rout of Tahiti in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday. The win has put Spain close to the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup, with the World and European champions likely to finish top of Group B for a meeting with hosts Brazil or Italy.
Another point against Nigeria tomorrow in Fortaleza will secure a place in the last four although Vicente Del Bosque’s side can even afford to lose.
Del Bosque will now be faced with the task of reverting back to the line-up which defeated Uruguay, with Valencia’s Roberto Soldado preferred up front, or giving another start to either Torres or Villa. “It’ll be a nice problem for the coach to have,” Torres said.
Torres bagged four goals against the Tahitians, while Barcelona striker Villa notched three in a one-sided match at the Maracana stadium, in which the crowd cheered throughout for the rank outsiders and booed the Spanish as soon as they regained the ball.
“I don’t know if my performance is going to get me a starting place. All I know is I don’t have to prove anything to anyone,” Torres added.
The Chelsea striker left the ground full of admiration for the opponents for the South Pacific, all but one of whom are amateurs.
Del Bosque also joined in the praise for the side coached by Eddy Etaetu. “Tahiti set an example in terms of fair play and went forward whenever they had the opportunity,” Del Bosque said. “We didn’t score more goals because they didn’t let us. This game hasn’t damaged football in any way. In some ways it’s made it even stronger.”
After losing their opening game 6-1 to Nigeria, Tahiti’s great adventure in Brazil will end against Uruguay in Recife tomorrow, a match which could have a considerable bearing on the outcome of the group.
Coach Etaetu was not entirely happy with the outcome though as he felt “naive defending” gave Spain too many simple opportunities to score.