The Super Eagles on Sunday, finished the African Cup of Nations qualifiers on a colourful note as it finished top of Group A with 15 points. The Eagles defeated their counterparts from Sao Tome & Principe by six goals to nil.
The Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo was thrown into jubilation when Victor Osimhen opened scoring in the 14th minute. Ademola Lookman increased the tally with a brilliant effort off a pass from Wilfred Ndidi.
A one-on-one between Nottingham Forest 's Taiwo Awóníyì and the Sao Tome goalkeeper was parried but not before the flag had gone up for offside.
Sao Tome had a chance to reduce the tally in the 37th minute through a free kick but the effort of Luis Leal was saved by Francis Uzoho without much difficulty.
Awóníyì made it three when he chested down a pass and pulled the trigger right inside the opponent's penalty area in the 51st minute. The duo of Joe Aribo and Victor Boniface replaced Frank Onyeka and Taiwo Awóníyì respectively and their introduction proved worthwhile.
The Eagles continued to mount pressure and it almost paid off in the 68th minute when Ndidi set up Osimhen with a through ball on the left. The latter was however fouled by the Sao Tome and Principe goalkeeper. Osimhen made no mistake in converting the resultant penalty kick.
The Sao Tome team replaced Ricardo Cardosso and Denison Silver with Emails on Wegas and Elias Virula while Nigeria's Ola Aina and Kelechi Iheanacho made way for Tyronne Ebuehi and Samuel Chukwueze.
Osimhen's hat trick came in the 80th minute off a one-two pass from Chukwueze who had been set loose by Wilfred Ndidi. Five minutes later, Chukwueze brought the goal haul to six when he controlled a pass from Boniface and fired leaving the goalkeeper helpless.
Comments
Post a Comment