Germany snatched three points from African champions Nigeria in a Olympic women's soccer match on Saturday.
German defender Kerstin Garefrekes opened the scoring in the 65th minute, when she speedily put into the Nigerian net a superb cross from Lilian Cole, who was sent on only a minute ago.
The goal smashed Nigerian confidence and Germany started to dominate the match. In the 76th minute, they created a melee in front of the Nigerian goal and five minutes later, a powerful left-footed shot was cleared by Nigerian goalie Precious Dede.
Nigeria's best moment came in the 55th minute, when midfielder Sarah Michael had a chance to face German goalkeeper Nadine Angerer one-on-one, but the goalie palmed her shot out of the area and a follow-up shot by Perpetua Nkwocha was eventually saved by the 30-year-old goalkeeper.
Boasting two two-time African Women Player of the Year, Uwak Cynthia and Perpetua Nkwocha, the Super Falcons are the seven-time African champions. However, they have been unable to dominate beyond Africa in such arenas as the FIFA Women's World Cup or the Olympic Games.
The two teams were drawn in the undisputed "Group of Death". In the first matches, Nigeria lost 0-1 to DPR Korea, while the Germans had a scoreless draw with Brazil.
(Xinhua News Agency August 9, 2008)