The Super Eagles of Nigeria secured a hard fought 2-1 win over Leone Stars of Sierra Leone during their first campaign of Afcon 2023 qualifiers at the Abuja stadium on Thursday.
A dominant performance saw Super Eagles seal the win at the end of the final whistle through goals from Iwobi and Osimhen – both assisted by Simon – to help the Eagles effectively cancel out Jonathan Morsay’s opener.
Both sides started the game on a strong footing but only took the Leone Stars 11 minutes to find the opening goal through Jonathan Morsay, who headed the visitors in front, from a lovely cross down the left.
A poor defending from Calvin Bassey left the Super Eagles goalie – Uzoho helpless as Sierra Leone took the lead with a fine header from Jonathan Marsey.
Alex Iwobi pulled the Super Eagles back on level terms five minutes later with audacious finish. The Everton man invoked his Premier League form to coolly slots in Nigeria’s equaliser form the box.
Moses Simon teed up Alex Iwobi in the vital area, he picked the ball and planted his effort into the far post as keeper rooted to the spot.
Four minutes to end of first half, Victor Osimhen gave the Eagles the lead for the first time in the game as he reacted quickly to Simon Moses’ knockdown header before slicing home into the roof of the net.
Nine minutes into the second half, Chukwueze fluffs a big chance to make it three for the Eagles. A shocking miss from the Villarreal star, who tried to bend one in after Osimhen lays it on a platter.
69 minutes on, Bassey pulls a good cross into the box, finding Osimhen, the Napoli striker directs his header goal wards but it goes just wide.
Both sides had chances to either increase or level the scores but it ended 2-1 in favour of the home side after 90 minutes of game play.
Even though the Abuja pitch was too bumpy and couldn’t allow free flow of football, the Super Eagles managed to steal the win.
How do you rate the Super Eagles’ performance today?