August 29, (THEWILL) – Taiwo Awoniyi made an argument for being considered Nigeria’s most lethal forward at the moment as he continued his resurgence in the attack line of Bundesliga side Union Berlin in Sunday’s home fixture against Borussia Moenchengladbach with the second goal of their 2-1 win.
It was his third goal in as many games in the league this season for Union and their fifth place in the league standing owes much to his goalscoring. He was on target again at the final moments of the first half to give the newly promoted Berliners a very important early win and confidence boost to take into the international break.
The match at the Stadion An der Alte Foersterei was only 22 minutes in when Union’s Niko Gießelmann headed in a free-kick from Genki Haraguchi to put the hosts in front. It was against the run of play as Mönchengladbach had dominated possession and goal attempts.
While the visitors were not finding a way through to level the scores, they had to be wary of Awoniyi’s incursions into their danger area on the break. He very nearly doubled the deficit for Monchengladbach in the 34th minute but it was an easy save for the keeper, Yann Sommer.
It was supposed to signal the danger he posed yet, it was a warning that Monchengladbach failed to heed. Therefore, the strike partnership that is beginning to blossom between the Nigerian and his German teammate Max Kruse, made them pay for it because with three minutes of normal first half time left, Awoniyi made it 2-0.
A counter broke quickly for Union and as Awoniyi raced ahead, Kruse spotted his run and laid a defense splitting through ball that the Nigerian pounced on to beat Sommer with a low left-footer from the left side that ended up nestling in the visitor’s net.
In the second half, Mönchengladbach pushed harder but the Berliners kept their shape, limiting the visitors to half chances. It was not the way Adolf Hutter and his charges planned their day and that the hosts were keeping them from equalising made it even more difficult.
Urs Fischer replaced Awoniyi with Kevin Behrens with a quarter of the game left to play but the Nigerian had done enough to make his case clear as one of the best strikers available at the moment. In his absence, Jonas Hofmann grabbed a late consolation goal for Moenchengladbach.
The goal was not enough to rally them into a comeback and the three points stayed with Union to push them up to fifth place. Awoniyi’s three goals have come in their first two draws and this win leaves them on five points after their first three games.
Yet, with these performances, Awoniyi was omitted from Gernot Rohr’s 30-man Nigerian squad preparing for the Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifying matches in September.
The hope is that the Red List issue surrounding the premiership, which means no less than seven players in the UK will not be available for the Cape Verde game as THEWILL reported, will provide the chance for him to feature.
If he keeps up such a display against the best teams in the Bundesliga, it will not be long before he can command a regular place in the Super Eagles squad in his own rights.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
