Izuchukwu OkosiNigeria’s Super Eagles quest of qualifying for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivorie were on Friday evening were dented with a 1-0 defeat to the Wild Dogs of Guinea-Bissau at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja.
The team coached by Jose Peseiro were odds-on favourites to win the game and began the game as the more likely team to claim all three points but the Guinea-Bissau side had other plans and deservedly secured a historic win as that was their first ever win over Nigeria.
As the game developed, Guinea-Bissau asserted themselves and denied the Nigerian midfield the chances to find talisman, Napoli’s Victor Osimhen.
READ ALSO: Osinbajo Hails Super Eagles For AFCON Performance, Togetherness
The duo of Samuel Chukwueze and Ademola Lookman were particularly profligate when presented with the opportunities to either to supply the crosses or attempt the goal themselves.
Troyes of France striker, Mama Balde, was the scorer of the lone goal at the half hour mark when he latched onto a long pass that beat the offside trap set up by the central defensive pair of Kelvin Akpoguma and Calvin Bassey.
The Eagles created decent scoring chances in the second half but they continued to miss glit-edge chances.
The teams will face off again on Monday in the reverse leg of the fixtures but the Nigerians, have the added pressure of not needing to lose any of their remaining Group A matches in the qualification campaign.
The defeat means the three-time African champions have now lost four consecutive international matches after the defeats to Algeria (2-1), Costs Rica (4-0), Portugal (4-0) and Guinea-Bissau (1-0).
Two teams are expected to qualify for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations from the group.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
Follow Us