- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday September 20 2000 03.52 BST
The defending champions Nigeria battled their way through to the quarter-finals with a 1-1 draw here against Italy, but their grip on the title has been weakened by the dismissal of the defender Azubuike Oliseh after an hour of an ill-tempered match.
It means that both Oliseh and the already suspended Chelsea defender Celestine Babayaro will miss the quarter-final in Melbourne on Saturday.
Here the Nigerian captain Garba Lawal had given his side the lead from the spot in the 39th minute after Victor Agali was hauled down by the Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati. But Oliseh, who had been booked in the ninth minute, walked off on the hour after his second yellow card for a foul.
The Italians, who had already qualified and rested six of their first-choice starting line-up, took only four minutes to capitalise on his exit, equalising via a Roberto Baronio volley, which seemed to take a deflection off Gbenga Okunowa.
The draw put the Nigerians second in Group A and set up a quarter-final against Chile or Spain. However, their chances of progressing further will be severely dented by Oliseh's suspension, given that Babayaro is serving a two-match ban following his sending off against Australia in their previous match.
In Group C the Arsenal midfielder Lauren helped Cameroon on their way to joining the Nigerians in the last eight with a 12th minute goal in their 1-1 draw with the Czech Republic at the Brisbane cricket ground, otherwise known as the Gabba.
The Czechs equalised through Lukas Dosek 15 minutes from time but a point was enough to see Cameroon through as group runners-up behind the United States, who beat Kuwait 3-1 at the MCG.
