Nigeria’s Super Eagles cruise to a 4-1 victory over Gabon in extra time of the semifinal playoffs match of the CAF World Cup qualifiers.
The semifinal match of the CAF World Cup qualifiers playoff between the Super Eagles of Nigeria and the Panthers of Gabon ended in a 4-1 victory for the Nigerian National Team.
The Super Eagles missed a lot of chances in the first half of the match, with notable misses coming from Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman. The Nigerian side was dominant in the first half but couldn’t convert their chances.
However, the second half of the match saw both sides putting the ball in the net. Nigeria’s Super Eagles new sensation, Akor Adams, put the Eagles in front with a simple finish as he rounded off the keeper to put the ball in the net in the 78th minute.
The match seemed to be ending in Nigeria’s favour until a deflected shot from Mario Lemina in the 89th minute, saw the beat Stanley Nwabali in the near post to give Gabon a breathe of life as an equalizer.
With twelve minutes of added time to stoppage, Galatasaray’s forward, Victor Osimhen, missed a one-on-one chance to score a late winner to put the Super Eagles 2-1 up before extra time. He normally puts those in the back of the net but failed to do so this time.
Nigeria went into extra time brimming with confidence and looking to score from the start. Sevilla’s winger, Chidera Ejuke, put the Super Eagles in front in the 97th minute of extra time with a clean, low finish that beat the Gabonese keeper to the far corner of the post.
Osimhen, in a similar fashion, made it 3-1 in the 102nd minute of the extra time as he equally put the ball in the far corner of the net, which beat the Gabonese keeper again. Unfortunately, Osimhen picked up a yellow card for removing his shirt in celebration of his goal.
In the 110th minute, Osimhen muscled the Gabon defense to score a cleanly executed low finish that saw the goalkeeper rooted to the spot as the ball moved past him to the corner of the net to make it 4-1. The goal put Osimhen as Nigeria’s second-highest goalscorer with 31 goals, behind the late Rashidi Yekini, who has 39 goals to his name.
Nigeria’s Super Eagles won the match with a 4-1 goal margin and moved to the final match in the qualifying playoffs of the CAF World Cup Qualifiers. They either face Cameroon or DR Congo in Sunday’s Playoffs final.
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