By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
First-half strikes by forwards Macauley Chrisantus and Yakubu Alfa proved enough for Nigeria giving it a 3-1 win over Germany in Suwon, Tuesday, and propelling them into the final of the Under-17 World Cup.
Nigeria will meet Spain in Sunday's finals at the Seoul World Cup Stadium to complete the action of the 24-team tournament that quickly lost its drawing power locally after host South Korea failed to advance to the round of 16.
They will enter Sunday's finals as slight favorites over Spain, which will be without Barcelona prospect Bojan Krkic, who picked up his second yellow card of the tournament in the semifinal match against Ghana.
The Nigerians pounded the Germans with their relentless attack and it didn't take much time for their direct approach to pay off.
Chrisantus, who leads the scoring for the tournament with seven goals, extended his prolific scoring rate early in the game when he sent home a deflection off German goalkeeper Rene Vollath to put Nigeria ahead in the 10th minute.
Conceding the lead, the Germans were forced to uncoil from their defensive-oriented approach and get more aggressive with the ball.
However, the Germans botched a clean-cut opportunity in the 13th minute thanks to the outstretched hands of Nigerian goalkeeper Oladele Ajiboye and flashed another effort off target on their next possession.
They were left to rue the missed opportunities just five minutes later as Alfa's left-footed screamer from distance passed the hands of Vollat to find the net.
Germany managed to cut the deficit to one after Bayern Munich prodigy Toni Kroos scored in the 33rd minute that restored some hope for his team. Richard Sukuta-Pasu nearly netted the equalizer just before the half-time whistle but his header bounced off the goal post.
The momentum continued to be with the Nigerians at the start of the second half as they came close on an number of opportunities that could have sealed the game at an earlier phase.
The Germans continued to struggle with their offensive flow and it was not until the 62nd minute that they finally got another shot on target, which was denied by a spectacular block from the acrobatic Ajiboye.
With their enlarged midfield finally finding their rhythm, the Germans began to grab the lion's share of position in the later parts of the second-half and began feeding their frontline with more scoring chances.
Ajiboye bailed out his teammates again in the 72nd minute with a close-range stop, and blocked another free kick attempt from the Germans just three minutes later.
With many of their attacks ending up with hasty long-range attempts, the Germans finally lost their competitive will at the start of stoppage time when Nigerian defender Kabriu Akinsola took advantage of a defensive blunder and drove home the team's third goal.