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UEFA Europa CL: Nigerian strikers fire blank as Slavia Prague fall short in Romania
By Wale Mustapha
Nigeria striking trio of Peter Olayinka, Colin Sor and Moses Usor were in actions for Slavia Prague but failed rescue the team from a disappointing 2-0 defeat to CFR Cluj in a UEFA Europa Conference League group match on Thursday.
The match played at the Dr. Constantin Radulescu sew the Czech giants dominated most of the proceedings with higher number of chances created and goals’ attempts but it was Cluj who took the three points.
It was more of a horrible night for Olayinka, one of the Nigerian players on Slavia’s books as his foul on Cluj player resulted into a penalty that was converted to give the home side the lead inside opening 11 minutes.
Slavia attacked with more purpose in the quest to even the score before half time could not break the solid defense of their hosts, thanks to some goalkeeping brilliance of Italian Simone Scuffet as well.
The second half was more of the same with Slavia Prague gaining more power and dominance but it was CFR Cluj that would get another goal with less than five minutes to end the game from a well planned corner kick that was headed in by Yuri Matias.
The due of Usor and Sor were swapped for fresh legs at the different moments of the game but it was little too late for Slavia even with Olayinka seeing out the entire duration.
The defeat has however pushed the Czechs down to third in the Group G table with four points, trailing both Cluj and Sivasspor who are both on seven points.
The Coach Trpisovsky led side will have to win their remaining two games to have a chance of making it out of the group.
