Izuchukwu Okosi
Nigeria’s quest for a fourth Africa Cup of Nations title began on a poor note Sunday evening as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Equatorial Guinea at the 60,000 capacity Alhassan Quattara stadium, Abidjan, reports Prime Business Africa.
Ivan Salvador Edu struck the first goal of the game in the 36th minute when he received the ball from Jose Machin at the edge of the box and placed it to the bottom right corner.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe Eagles whose mantra heading into the tournament was ‘Let’s do it Again’ equalised just two minutes later through the 2023 Africa Footballer of The Year winner (men) Victor Osimhen who headed home a cross from Ademola Lookman.
The Eagles created numerous scoring chances but were repelled by the impressive Equatorial Guinea goalkeeper Jesus Owono who was deservedly awarded the game’s Man of the Match award.
Super Eagles head coach Jose Peseiro who elected to travel for the tournament with 25 players instead of 27 as approved by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) would be hoping that Royal Antwerp midfielder Alhasan Yusuf has not copped a serious injury as he was stretched off the pitch.
Yusuf was a late replacement for Leicester City midfielder Wilfred Ndidi who was omitted due to injury.
Osimhen was close to making it two goals for the three-time African champions but sliced his effort wide off target.
The Napoli man, Simon Moses and Alex Iwobi were also denied subsequently by the impressive Owono.
The Nigerian side will face hosts Cote d’Ivoire in theor next Group A game at 6pm Nigerian time on Thursday.
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.
