Super Eagles Of Nigeria Avenge Home Defeat With 1-0 Win Over Guinea Bissau

The Super Eagles of Nigeria bounced back from their 1-0 home defeat on Friday to beat their hosts 1-0 on Monday in their 4th 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualification match.

In the game which took place at the Estádio 24 de Setembro in Bissau, the head coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria, Jose Peseiro, made some important changes from the first eleven that lost to Guinea Bissau in Abuja on Friday.

In today’s game, the Portuguese tactician decided to drop Wilfred Ndidi, Kelechi Iheanacho, and Ademola Lookman for Terem Moffi, Moses Simon, and Frank Onyeka.

The decision paid off as Nigeria controlled the game in the first 45 minutes but both sides failed to create enough goalscoring opportunities.

However, at the 29th-minute mark, Nigeria finally had the chance to take the lead. This came when Guinea Bissau’s Fali Candé brought down Bright Osayi-Samuel in the box and the referee blew the whistle for a spot-kick.

Even though Victor Osimhen was on the pitch, Moses Simon was given the responsibility to take the spot-kick. And as expected, the versatile winger who played in the midfield today, wasted no time in slotting in the goal.

Moses fired the penalty towards the left corner of the goalpost while goalkeeper Jonas Mendes went the wrong way as the Super Eagles finally got the better of their hosts.

In the second half, there was a rain of chances for both teams as the game turned into an end-to-end affair. However, the best of the chances fell into the hands of Napoli’s in-form striker, Osimhen. Unfortunately, the goalpost denied him the goal.

Towards the end of the game and the over seven minutes added time, the two teams continue to battle it out for another goal but that didn’t happen as the Super Eagles of Nigeria ran away with a narrow 1-0 victory.

The slim win has returned the Super Eagles to the top of Group A with 9 points in 4 games, two points above Guinea Bissau who have dropped to the second spot.

As it stands, the Super Eagles have two more games to play – against third-placed Sierra Leone and bottom-placed São Tomé and Príncipe to qualify for the 2023 AFCON in Ivory coast. The tournament will begin in January 2024.