Super Eagles finished their 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign with a runaway 14 points after defeating Lesotho 3-0 in the last game of the series yesterday at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.
After two decades, Eagles returned to Lagos for their first competitive game and left the ground smiling with all three points in the kitty.
There is nothing at stake for the Super Eagles nor their visitors. The Eagles have already qualified for Cameroon 2022 and will finish top of the standings regardless of this game’s result, while Likuena have been mathematically eliminated.
Nigeria comes into the clash on the back of a 1-0 win away to Benin in Porto-Novo this past Saturday, with Paul Onuachu rising off the bench to score the winner deep into injury time.
It was another very comfortable evening’s work for the Super Eagles with a triumph over Group L’s bottom side, Lethoso.
A goal from Man of the Match, and constant danger, Victor Osimhen in the first half, was added to by Oghenekaro Etebo and Paul Onuachu in the second to take Nigeria onto 14 points from their six games.
Gernot Rohr was delighted to be able to have Everton dangerman Alex Iwobi in from the start, he had been a doubt until a late negative covid-19 test came through and along with Iheanacho and their Napoli striker caused their visitors all sorts of problems. In fact, the only surprise was that it took 23 minutes for one of them to bag the opener.
The whole team played their part, even Uzoho needed to have his wits about him on a few occasions but a special mention to both Wilfred Ndidi and OghenekaroEtebo who held together the midfield brilliantly and kept things ticking along.
With a qualification in the bag, coach Gernot Rohr is likely to use this game as a chance to field new players and test out combinations. Onuachu, for example, could well be given the chance to start ahead of Victor Osimhen.
Next up for the Eagles is the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying race, which starts at the end of May.