Nigeria maintain lead in Group C, beat Cape Verde 2-1

The Super Eagles, yesterday, in Mindelo, Cape Verde, beat the Blue Sharks 2-1 to maintain their stranglehold on the Group C of the Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

Nigeria had on Friday beaten Liberia 2-0 to climb to the top of the table ahead of Cape Verde and Central Africa Republic (CAR), which drew 1-1 in Cameroun, CAR’s adopted home ground.

In a game, which marked Captain Ahmed Musa’s 100th cap for Nigeria, the Super Eagles came from an early setback to win 2-1 courtesy of Victor Osimhen’s 21st minute equalizer, which cancelled Dylan dos Santos opener for the home team.

The Eagles won the game courtesy of an atrocious 75th minute own goal scored Kelly Santos, whose back pass caught his goalkeeper off guard.

Thereafter, the Eagles took total control of the game, but they could not make good use of the chances. Debutant Chidera Ejuke forced goalkeeper Vozinha to an acrobatic save in the 27th minute, before Osimhen capitalized on a defensive blunder to stab home Nigeria’s equaliser from close range after the goalkeeper spilled the ball.

The Eagles continued their dominance in the second half with Skipper Ahmed Musa, Osimhen, and substitute Henry Onyekuru foraging for the winner.

This came when Santos, under pressure, sent a spectacular backpass to Vozinha, was unfortunately out of his goal line. Even though Vozinha managed to claw the ball away, the referee adjudged that the ball had crossed the line before the goalkeeper’s intervention.

Victory took the Eagles to maximum six points from two matches, three points ahead of second-placed Liberia, ahead of the Day 3 and 4 games scheduled for October.