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Nigeria’s Super Eagles narrowly defeated Libya 1-0 in their AFCON 2025 qualifiers on Friday at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo thanks to Fisayo Dele-Bashiru’s late goal.
The West African side laboured throughout the match to secure the victory, much to the delight of the Nigerian supporters. Nigeria are top of Group D of the qualifying series after two wins and a draw from three matches.
Below are four key takeaways from the match between Nigeria and the Mediterranean Knights.
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1. The defence may not be praised enough but 3 clean sheets in 3 games is highly commendable
Nigeria’s defence, marshalled by the strong and dogged captain William Troost-Ekong, kept the Libyan attackers absolutely quiet.
While the Nigerian offensive players did their job by scoring three against Benin Republic in the AFCON 2025 first qualifying game in September, the defenders kept a clean sheet.
Rwanda’s game – the second qualifying outing – ended goalless. So far, in three AFCON 2025 qualifiers, Nigeria has scored four goals and has not conceded a single goal.
Kudos to goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali, defenders Oluwasemilogo Ajayi, Troost-Ekong, Calvin Bassey, Olaoluwa Aina, and Bruno Onyemaechi for a job well done.
2. Questionable refereeing decisions
Malawian referee Godfrey Nkhakananga was appointed by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to officiate the match between Nigeria and Libya.
However, his official duty was marred by several atrocious decisions, chief amongst which was Ademola Lookman‘s goal which was wrongly chalked off for offside.
If not for Dele-Bashiru’s intervention to gift Nigeria the deserved lead four minutes to the end of regulation time, the Super Eagles would have lost two important points on the evening due to bad refereeing.
Nkhakananga had earlier denied Lookman a penalty in the opening minutes.
In the previous AFCON 2025 qualifiers game against Rwanda, Lookman also saw his goal denied unjustly. He would have been on four goals right now in the qualifiers if both goals were not wrongly ruled out.
This is a call on the CAF to ensure the implementation of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) for the AFCON 2025 qualifying games and beyond.
3. Super Eagles attacking options well pronounced yet again
Over the years, Nigeria’s Super Eagles have never suffered want in most of the various departments of play and that came to the fore again on Friday evening.
Despite the absence of key striker Victor Osimhen, coach Austin Eguavoen’s team had the services of other strikers like Victor Boniface and Taiwo Awoniyi.
While Boniface started the encounter, Awoniyi came on in the second half to replace him. Also the attacking midfield position saw Alex Iwobi start and later replaced by goalscorer Fisayo Dele-Bashiru.
In defensive midfield, there was Raphael Onyedika who served as capable replacement for Wilfred Ndidi who started the match.
Moses Simon came into the starting lineup with Samuel Chukwueze dropped, although the AC Milan man later came on. Atalanta star Lookman, as usual, troubled the opposition defence, and was unlucky to see his strike incorrectly ruled out for offside.
4. Boniface continues to struggle despite playing opportunities
Bundesliga champion Victor Boniface was thrown into the starting XI yet again but despite flashes of his brilliance, could not do anything really worthwhile against Libya.
He started ahead of Awoniyi in the absence of Osimhen but his struggles on the field of play were evident. The 23-year-old failed to register a shot on target. His three attempted dribbles also all came out unsuccessful.
He was later taken off for the Nottingham Forest lanky forward in the 74th minute. Boniface is yet to score for the Nigerian national team since making his debut against Sao Tome & Principe on 10 September, 2023.
Tags: Super Eagles, Mediterranean Knights, Libya, AFCON 2025 qualifiers, Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo, William Troost-Ekong, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, Victor Boniface, Victor Osimhen, Austin Eguavoen, Ademola Lookman, CAF, Godfrey Nkhakananga, #NewsRoundTheClock, #NGALBY, #nrtcnewsnigeria, #nrtcnews, #nrtcnigeria, #nrtcsports, #AFCONQ2025, #SoarSuperEagles.
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