Poland (2) v (8) Nigeria

The first of today's World Cup quarter finals was contested by Poland and Nigeria who both qualified with impressive goalscoring records with goal differences of 25 and 39 respectively. In the searing Milanese sun Nigeria got their warm up under way early with a good old song and dance to get the team pumped up for the big game.

The match was soon under way at breakneck pace as both teams looked to open up an early lead, but it would be Nigeria that would capitalise on this frenetic early pace when Polands number 8 was dispossessed at the halfway line leaving Nigerias number 32 through on goal to slot home cooly to open the account. A 2nd followed soon after when no. 11 (chukwu) hit the bar from range and volleyed home the rebound for an impressive finish. This finish soon turned into a hat trick for Chukwu to make it 4-0 after a period of a few minutes that saw Poland struggle to get out of their own half. However Nigerias early dominance served well for the physical Poles whos strong support in the crowd found their voice urging them to break into the Nigerian territory and unleash a shot from the halfway line that came back off the bar and was unlucky not to be turned into a goal when the rebound was spanked on the half volley. During this resurgence Nigerias defensive pairing of 11 & 32 forced the Poles to continue with speculative long range attempts. One of these resulted in a Chukwu counter attack releasing no.13 down the right channel to slot home at the near post to make it 5-0 to Nigeria. Poland now began to try and see out the half by sitting back and keeping pressure on the attacking Nigerians but no.13 managed to make a swift turn and volley when squeezed right into the touchline that rocketed into the net to cap off a great first half for Nigeria.

Although the scoreline suggesed otherwise Poland did not seem out of the game as they had made numerous chances and hit the posts and bar 5 times.

Shortly into the second half Poland were forced to make a substitution due to injury and unfortunately Nigeria capitalised on the brief interruption to further their lead to 7-0. Poland looked to up their game and try and use their physical play to disposess Nigeria and stem the flow. This lead to Poland conceding a penalty after a wild challenge that in true Homeless World Cup style was acompanied with a hug afterwards. Chukwu (no.11) grabbed his fourth goal and seemed to entirely write off Poland, however immediately after Poland scored 2 carbon copy goals by drives from distance by numbers 8 and 6 to make it 8-2. Unfortunately despite Polands battling spirirt and physical play this was the last of their resurgence as they had been outdone by the pure skill and vision of man of the match Chukwu.

Joseph Dick