The Super Eagles took advantage of sloppy defending by their hosts and fearsome goals scoring instincts of SSC Napoli of Italy striker, Victor Osimhen to snatch a 2-1 win away to Cape Verde in the second match of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
Megasportsarena.com reports that Osimhen was Nigeria’s hero on Tuesday, as his first half goal spurred the Eagles back from a goal down and they eventually went on to consolidate their position atop Group C in the African qualifiers for next year’s Mundial in Qatar.
The Eagles went behind a quarter of the way through Tuesday’s match in Mindelo, four days after they beat Liberia 2-0 in Lagos during their first game of the qualifiers, but Osimhen got in the right spot to equalise for Gernot Rohr’s side just ten minutes after the hosts opened scoring.
Cape Verde went ahead in the 20th minute through Dylan Tavares, but both sides went into the half time break level at 1-1, after Osimhen fired the Eagles back into contention in the 30th minute, following which a 76th minute own goal by Kenny Santos gave the visitors the lead.
The last time Osimhen scored for Nigeria was in a 4-2 away win over Lesotho during the 2021 Nations Cup qualifiers … and it was also in an away encounter.
Dramatically, the former VfL Wolfsburg of Germany, Sporting Charleroi of Belgium and Lille Metropole of France hitman also helped Nigeria win after going a goal down.
Back then in November 2020, Masoabi Nkoto netted an early for the hosts after 11 minutes but Alex Iwobi leveled the score 15 minutes later, following which Samuel Chukwueze made it 2-1 and Osimhen ensured the win with two goals on 75 and 85 minutes, though Chidozie Awaziem scored in his own net in injury time.
The story on Tuesday was slightly different, as Osimhen made the best of another starting role with Rohr’s squad, as he was named by the Franco-German tactician alongside Ahmed Musa in attack, while Emil Maduka Okoye retained his position as first choice goalkeeper.
The Eagles’ defence line had Abdullahi Shehu, Jamilu Collins, Kenneth Omeruo and Chidozie Awaziem, while midfield comprised Kingsley Michael, Innocent Bonke, Chidera Ejuke and Moses Simon.
Cape Verde started this match impressively as they knew that a win against Nigeria will help them in the qualifiers having drawn their first game, but they soon found the going tough against the inform Osimhen, who went on to enact his 8th goal in 15 appearances for the Eagles.
However, the hosts’ sail was eventually nipped by the Eagles, who earlier took out time before kick-off to celebrate with their assistant coach and former captain, Joseph Ikpo Yobo on his 41st birthday.
The three-time African champions combined voices to sing a happy birthday song and prayed for him in years to come, while the ex-defender reciprocated by showing how much he appreciated the team for their celebratory gesture.
While the Eagles went on to dedicate the victory to Yobo, statistics showed that Musa, who has been out of favour in the team and played as substitute during last Friday’s victory over Liberia, enacted a milestone with his 100th cap for Nigeria.
The former Kano Pillars, VV Van Venlo of Netherlands, CSKA Moscow of Russia, Leicester City of England and Al-Nassr of Saudi Arabia winger now has 100 cap for Super Eagles and he is now just one match short of equaling Vincent Enyeama and Yobo’s 101-game records.
The hero of the evening, though, happened to be Osimhen, who was later replaced by Paul Ebere Onuachu, as the Napoli ace helped the Eagles capitalize on two defensive blunders from the hosts and Nigeria secured maximum points for the second straight match running to stay top of Group C.
Up next for Nigeria is a home game against the Central African Republic on October 9th, while Cape Verde will head to Liberia.
