Two fans died after Nigeria beat Ghana

Two football fans, one Nigerian and the other a Ghanaian, living at opposite ends of the country, died of heart attacks shortly after Nigeria beat Ghana 3-0 Sunday, reports said on Wednesday.

A state government official in Kaduna, northern Nigeria, died cheering the Nigerian Super Eagles to victory in a decisive World Cup game Sunday, the newspaper The Guardian reported.

Adamu Audu, 59, who watched the game on television, jumped up to join in celebrations when Nigeria won 3-0, their first victory over Ghana in 24 years, but then slumped and died, the paper said.

Kaduna Information Commissioner Rabiu Bako confirmed the death. "He was not sick before the match. He watched the match from the beginning to the end. He was very excited by the Eagles victory," he said.

Meanwhile, in Lagos, Ghanaian Kofi Osei died of a heart attack after watching the game with friends in a Lagos beer parlour. Osei had bought six cartons of beer to share with his Nigerian friends but died shortly after the final whistle, the newspaper Daily Champion said.

Nigeria defeated arch-rivals Ghana at the weekend in Port Harcourt to beat off the strong challenge of Liberia and qualify for next year's World Cup in South Korea and Japan.