Izuchukwu Okosi
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Super Eagles interim coach Austin Eguavoen repeated the feat he achieved in 2006 when he finished the group stages of the Africa Cup of Nations on a perfect note with three wins enroute to winning the bronze at that year’s AFCON – this time with a 2-0 win over Guinea-Bissau on Wednesday. IZUCHUKWU OKOSI looks at the major talking points from the Super Eagles’ perspective.
The former Eagles right back rang the changes and started eight players who were hitherto not starters on the team.
However there were three lynchpins who started in the match and are clearly the spine of the team. William Troost Ekong, Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho.
Sadiq, Ekong Grab ‘Perfect’ Nigeria Goals In Guinea-Bissau Win
They were the most experienced players in their respective positions in the Eagles fold. The three players were those he counted on most to deliver. And they did.
Ekong scored, Ndidi was one of the best performing players on the night, Iheanacho assisted Sadiq Umar’s goal.
Umar scored Nigeria’s first goal of the game but aside his goal hasn’t been electrifying in the tournament this far. It will be nice to see if he has more callups henceforth when the regular strikers, Victor Osimhen, Emmanuel Dennis,, Paul Onuachu and Odion Ighalo are available.
Umar squandered a chance to double Nigeria’s lead Kelechi Nwakali put the ball on the plate for him.
Nwakali did his future chances in the team a world of good with nice long range passes but the lively short pass he gave Umar was the highlight of his game on Wednesday night.
Finally the video assistant referee (VAR) must be faster. It took more than three minutes to determine that the Ekong goal after Moses Simon’s slalom run that saw his shot hit the crossbar was indeed a legitimate goal.
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.
