The Nigerian senior football national team, Super Eagles headed back home in the early hours of Sunday, following a 1-0 victory over Benin Republic in their penultimate game of the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations, and they have settled down to commence preparation for Tuesday’s final game against Lesotho.
That match, which will hold at Teslim Balogun Stadium at Surulere, Lagos will now be a mere formality, as the Eagles have already qualified and will be one of the teams in Cameroon, with a ticket that was secured three hours before their victory in Porto Novo.
Nonetheless, the Eagles’ victory on Saturday sealed a double for Nigeria over Benin Republic and ended an eight-year unbeaten run for The Squirrels at Stade Charles de Gaulle, with another confirmation of might over their West Coast immediate neighbors, who had also lost the first fixture between both sides 2-1 at Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo 16 months ago.
Nigeria’s latest victory came after 72nd minute substitute, Paul Ebere Onuachu secured three points with a powerful header three minutes into added time, ensuring that The Squirrels will have to wait for another day and avoid defeat away in Freetown on Tuesday to be sure of securing a place at Cameroon 2022.
Group mates Sierra Leone and Lesotho ended their encounter in Maseru scoreless, sending Nigeria through to the finals before they took the turf at a venue where Benin Republic had not witnessed defeat since losing 1-3 to Algeria in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying match on 9th June 2013.
The result in Maseru guaranteed Nigeria her 19th appearance at the Africa Cup of Nations, in the competition’s 33rd finals. Only seven-time winners Egypt (24 previous finals); two –time winners Cote d’Ivoire (23 previous finals); four-time winners Ghana (22 previous finals); five –time winners Cameroon (19 previous finals) and; 2004 champions Tunisia (19 previous finals) have been at the AFCON more times than Nigeria, who have won the competition three times.
Two unfashionable draws against Sierra Leone in November were the only games that Nigeria played in a pandemic-ravaged year 2020, stimulating Technical Adviser Gernot Rohr to demand for victory in order to restore a winning mentality into his group ahead of the World Cup qualifying race starting in two months.
There was not much to cheer in a tepid first half, which saw only Henry Onyekuru’s snap header pushed out by the impressive goalkeeper Saturnin Allagbé as the major talking point. Not a hugely interesting afternoon for a sparse crowd of just 200 people, a restriction forced on the host nation by CAF as part of coronavirus –curtailing measures.
FIFA U17 World Cup winners, Kelechi Iheanacho, Victor Osimhen and Samuel Chukwueze led the fore for Nigeria, assisted by Henry Onyekuru, but the Super Eagles did not exactly press for an avalanche of goals on an afternoon they already knew their flight to Cameroon was booked.
Two minutes into the second half, Chukwueze and Onyekuru failed to decide on who was better –placed to strike in the box, with Onyekuru eventually sending the ball sky-high and, five minutes later, the hosts came very close.
William Ekong allowed an opponent to get a leg to the ball and heave it above goalkeeper Maduka Okoye, missing the net by inches, after which Osimhen shot narrowly over the sticks in the 54th minute, and then struck the upright two minutes later as Nigeria switched into second gear.
In the 62nd minute, Okoye flung himself full –length to thwart a glancing header from slipping into the net, and in the 90th minute, Osimhen forced a good save from Allagbé with a powerful header.
Onuachu, on the field for 20 minutes after replacing Iheanacho, was gifted a huge opportunity to score only his second goal for Nigeria as the ball rose high in the box following Osimhen’s attempt from a Samuel Chukwueze’s corner kick, and he headed home a 93rd minute winner.
