Report: England Deaf Men 2-1 Nigeria

Goals from Jamie Clarke and Abdou Jobe helped England Deaf Men beat Nigeria 2-1 at the World Deaf Football Championships on Tuesday.

With the Para Lions narrowly edged out of their round of 16 match with the USA on Friday, it meant their focus turned to trying to secure ninth place via three classification matches.

Sunday’s 3-0 win over Saudi Arabia and Tuesday’s 2-1 victory over Nigeria means England will now face the winner of Türkiye and Australia to see who will finish in ninth place.

England and Nigeria had played each other in the group stages, where the 5-1 scoreline did not reflect how much of a threat the Super Eagles posed, with goalkeeper Alex Smith having to save two penalties and a number of other chances on the Para Lions’ way to victory.

And the teams could not be separated in the first half on Tuesday before the dynamics of the game changed five minutes after the interval.

The Para Lions took the lead when Phil Swift regained a loose ball and threaded it through to Clarke, who made a well-timed run on the edge of their box to score when one-on-one.

England’s hopes of victory were then boosted immediately after the goal when Oluwafemi Solomon received a red card.

Sam Manoochehri’s side then doubled their advantage with a quarter of an hour remaining when Swift’s short corner saw Kehmati Anderson cross into the box and Jobe was able to apply the finish to make it 2-0.

Nigeria did manage to grab a consolation goal and set up a more tense finish when the dangerous Salaudeen Saleh headed in a deep free-kick at the far past.

But it is England who will now face the winner of Türkiye versus Australia, which is being played later today, in a ninth and tenth-place classification match on Thursday, with kick-off at 1.30pm BST.

England: 13 Sam Edwards, 2 Harry Boorman, 4 Phil Swift, 5 Matt Oaten, 8 Ellis McLean, 9 Jamie Clarke ©, 10 Oliver Manoochehri, 12 Joe Dixon, 14 Cavell Donaldson, 16 Drew Rowley, 19 Will Palmer

Substitutes: 20 Kehmati Anderson for Palmer 60, 7 Abdou Jobe for Manoochehri 60, 3 Dylan Cross for Boorman 60, 18 Cole Neil for Donaldson 60, 17 Henry Bowe for Anderson 90

Substitutes not used: 1 Alex Smith, 6 Rylan Casey, 15 Gino King

Head coach: Sam Manoochehri

Goals: Jamie Clarke 50, Abdou Jobe 70