Two games played, two games won. The Super Eagles of Nigeria are undeniably in an excellent position to qualify for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.
The First match-day of the qualifiers saw Nigeria take on Benin in the Godswill Akpabio stadium in Uyo on Wednesday the 13th of November. Samuel Kalu was the match-winner as Nigeria overturned an early Stephane Sessegnon strike to defeat Benin 2-1
The squirrel’s of Benin shocked the Super Eagles by scoring as early as the 2nd minute. Nigeria struggled to get a foothold in the game and were fortunate to get a penalty in the closing stages of the first half, which was calmly slotted in by Victor Osimhen. The second half of the game was that of a different story as Nigeria dominated and finally got rewarded just after the hour mark with Bordeaux’s man, Samuel Kalu, besting a couple of defenders before slotting it past the keeper in style. It remained that way, with Rohr’s side comfortably seeing out the rest of the encounter in Uyo.
On Sunday, Nigeria faced off against Lesotho in the 2nd round of fixtures. Super Eagles of Nigeria showed quality to beat Lesotho 4-2 in Maseru.
Lesotho drew first blood scoring early on in the first half. Before Alex Iwobi equalized making no mistake after being found by Victor Osimhen. Samuel Chukwueze then put the Eagles ahead lobbing the keeper with a header after some good work and an even better cross by Victor Osimhen to find Samuel.
The second half was also about Victor Osimhen. He scored two goals after the 74th minute and had Nigeria cruising to a comfortable victory. The game wasn’t over however, with Lesotho getting a consolation goal via an error from a complacent Chidozie Awaziem.
With 4 games remaining to be played next year one would hope that the Super Eagles of Nigeria carry this form of goal scoring into the remaining games of the qualifiers.
I have been impressed with this particular squad of players. Have you?