Nigeria’s Nnamdi Oduamadi powers past Henri Caroine, of Tahiti.

Nigeria pounced on some early mistakes on the way to a 6-1 Confederations Cup win over amateurs Tahiti, who claimed a moral victory by scoring on their debut in a major international tournament last night.

Oceania champions Tahiti, with only one professional player in their squad, had a terrible start in Group B when the ball hit the referee and ran to Nigeria’s Uwa Echiejile who scored with a shot that took two deflections in the fifth minute.

Nigeria seemed set for a big scoreline when Nnamdi Oduamadi strolled through the Tahiti defence to make it 2-0 five minutes later after the South Pacific islanders had given the ball away and the African champions added a third before the half-hour.

Tahiti brought the crowd to life, though, when Jonathan Tehau headed a goal back in the 54th minute.

But Nigeria produced a late flurry when Tehau put through his own goal, Nnamdi completed a hat-trick and Echiejile scored his second.

Group B