Nigeria’s Sand Eagles have restored their hopes of reaching the knock out phase of the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup following a hard fought 5-4 win against Mexico on Saturday.
Audu Adamu‘s men bounced back from their morale crushing 12-6 loss to Italy, who earlier booked their place in the next round after defeating Iran 5-4.
Nigeria will next play Iran and hope to extend their winning run to two games, with the hope of progressing.
For the 2016 African Beach Soccer Cup of Nations runners-up, it was a remarkable comeback to defeat Mexico 5-4 in extra time of their Group B clash.
It was the Mexicans that initially took control of the contest after goals from Abdiel Villa, Angel Rodriguez and Ramon Maldonado.
Nigeria grab the win with just 1.9s left on the clock! 🇳🇬⌛️
A dramatic match to precede the Bahamas’ game with Senegal!#FIFABeachSoccer pic.twitter.com/WZ6R9UE25B
— FIFA.com (@FIFAcom) April 29, 2017
However, Nigeria responded with a pair of goals from Emeka Ogbonna and Azeez Abu before a late Victor Tale penalty resulted in the first regulation-time draw at Bahamas 2017.
Nigeria outlasted Mexico in the extra-time period, with Abu scoring the winner just seconds from the end to claim the two points on offer.