Nigeria’s Super Eagles returned to winning ways last night as the three-time African champions laboured to earn a 2-1 victory over Leone Stars of Sierra Leone in an AFCON 2023 Group A qualifier at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja.
The performance of the Eagles who are now being managed by Portuguese Head Coach, Jose Peseiro, was far from satisfactory.
The team appeared rusty and lacked the familiar flair of the senior Nigerian team.
The three points from the game appears as the only consolation to Nigerian fans who were locked out of the game as punishment for the crowd trouble experienced in the last World Cup playoff with Ghana at the Abuja stadium.
The visitors from Freetown drew the first blood barely 11 minutes into the game when Jonathan Morsay unsettled the hosts with a flying header to give the Leone Stars the 1-0 lead.
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It was the exact same time that Ghana’s Thomas Partey scored the long range goal that snatched the 2022 World Cup ticket from Nigeria.
The Coach John Keister’s side almost doubled their lead with the same Morsay hitting the base of Francis Uzoho’s goalpost.
However, Everton midfielder, Alex Iwobi, redeemed Nigeria’s pride levelling scores 1-1 in the 16th minute.
With the clock ticking three minutes left for the first half break, Napoli Forward, Victor Osimhen, streched to loop a right wing cross from Moses Simon into the net for Nigeria’s second goal.
The second half was almost an even affair but with the visitors making dangerous incursion into Nigeria’s vital area.
In the other half of the field, Leone Stars put up more zeal to curtail the attacking forays of the Super Eagles.
As the game dragged into added time, they were even more ferocious, struggling for a possible equaliser.
Nigeria’s Captain, William Troost-Ekong, is not likely to feature in Eagles next match next week as he was stretchered off the pitch for a possible groin injury.
Meanwhile, Africa Daily News, New York reports that while Eagles laboured to the 2-1 victory, Guinea Bissau hammered São Tomé and Principe 5-1 to lead the Group A.
