Super Eagles kept their hope of qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup alive after overcoming ‘stubborn’ Rwanda 1-0 at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo, on Saturday.
Victor Osimhen had the first shot on target in the 3rd minute, but there was no power on the ball to threaten the Rwanda goalkeeper, Fiacre Ntwari.
The Galatasaray striker thought he had netted the opening goal with a simple tap-in for Nigeria in the 8th minute, but it was flagged offside by the assistant referee.
In the 15th minute, Wilfred Ndidi’s low drive shot went off target, a big relief for Rwanda’s defence.
The Super Eagles, after an impressive ball possession, had the chance to break the deadlock in the 30th minute, but Moses Simon’s shot was blocked by the Amavubi’s defence.
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It was a big blow for Nigeria after Osimhen was substituted in the 34th minute for Cyriel Dessers due to an injury he copped from a tackle from a Rwanda defender.
A decent long-range strike from Alex Iwobi in the 35th minute was well parried away by the Rwanda goalkeeper, Ntwari.
At the start of the second half, Tolu Arokodare came on to replace Frank Onyeka.
Arokodare wasted no time to announce himself on the pitch as he broke the deadlock in the 51st minute with a goal-line scissors kick, to the delight of the home supporters.
Simon almost doubled Nigeria’s lead in the 63rd minute, but his shot was blocked by the Rwanda goalkeeper, and the follow-up by Ademola Lookman failed to hit the target.
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A few minutes later, Ndidi’s shot was saved by Ntwari again as the Super Eagles charged for the second goal.
In the 75th minute a well taken free-kick from Simon was parried away by the Rwanda goalkeeper to still keep the scoreline at 1-0.
Nigeria made a double substitutions in the 87th minute as William Troost-Ekong and Osai-Samuel came on for Ola Aina and Dessers, respectively, as the Super Eagles sealed the maximum points to keep their World Cup hopes alive.
The result means Nigeria now sits third in Group C with 10 points from seven matches, behind South Africa (16 points) and Benin Republic (11 points).
13 Comments
What hope? The team is not creative and what can we expect against a super possessive and creative South African team? If Uche does not start next match who will dictate the tempo for SE? Arokodare was great @Stanley you got me on this I admit Arokodhino is greater than Dessers.
Our players are not doing any tactical work in training let’s be honest because South Africa will be smiling after watching our zero technical match against Rwanda in UYO.
Lmao..Arokodare is greater than dessers…come Why are you always stupid, foolish and childishly hasty with your judgement and conclusion… now now you don sit Dan with your cheap phone and data subscription give verdict…if against south Africa now desers scores you will shift mouth…
Watch your language. You’re stepping out of your zone!
Congratulations Nigeria! 3 pointi 3 point..it doesn’t matter if it’s a scrappy goal..Shout out to Aina, lookman, simon…mehn but that Rwanda keeper came prepared abi na we no just do enough? Like I said it doesn’t matter south Africa next but Omo that will be extremely extremely tough o…But God help us.. Amen!
It wasn’t a spectacular performance but the boys did enough to pick the three maximum points. Here we come South Africa- let’s pray for the super eagles to do us proud come Tuesday in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Up super eagles.
Honestly, I’m surprised that Chrisantus did not play any part in this game.
Uche is a player that can impact a game. It’s a big waste for him to be on the bench for 90 mins.
I hope Osimhen recovers in time for the SA game. If he is still out, then the other forwards need to be ready to deliver.
We will win south Africa in the Mighty name of Jesus
Never a classic by a country mile but maximum 3 points in the bag will elicit zero complaints from me.
I loved the feeling of watching this match . It had nothing to do with the match itself, more of my expectations being as low as water from borehole.
Low expectations aside, Chelle has now manufactured 7 points out of 9 from 3 qualifiers; this is astounding! Kudos to him, his coaching crew and the players.
It reminds me of watching a Jose Morinho tutored side back in his heydays at Chelsea when they would grind out narrow wins after playing badly, accumulating enough points this way to win the English Premier League trophy.
But for an unfortunate catalogue of errors in the dying embers of the last match leading to the 1:1 draw against Zimbabwe, we would have been talking about 12 points now.
Anyway, Arokodare is proving to be quite impactful. His hold-up play is of the elite spectrum and his goal today saved our bacon.
Iwobi, I thought, had a decent game. He produced some neat passes and put himself around.
I think it is not worth it talking about the players individually because, apart from Arokodare, most of them looked flat, off pace and off colour.
But, as a team, I felt their structure was solid and sound enough to subdue the immediate opponent enough to hit the ultimate target by extracting maximum 3 points, keeping our hopes alive.
Today, I think it was the ultimate case of the whole being greater than the sum of its constituent parts.
I think these players will be more energetic in the next match with this victory and the game itself helping to warm them up.
They will have to be; they will have to put their foot on the gas to get something out of the match against South Africa. This sort of tepid individual performances will get them in hotter waters.
Well-done boys , they did their best to make sure they won the game, playing against south Africa will be a different ball game the coach should aply 3_5_2 formation with Ekong.fredick Bassey in the center defense.the players need to be at thier best. Uche should start ahead of onyeka Arokodinho/Desers will be too hot for south Africa defenders to handle.am happy my boy Arokodinho didn’t disappoint.
These players aren’t playing like Super Eagles at all, they play as if nothing at stake. Maybe against South Africa they will up their game. Goodluck.
It is not always easy playing against such a trailer packed defense of Rwanda. I know the game against South Africa would be different, because South Africa will attack us and will likely open up in their defense. I foresee a slim win of 0-1 for Nigeria, though, this may not be a popular opinion.
South Africa needs a draw in that game.
With a 6 point lead over Nigeria already and 2 “home matches” vs Rwanda and already eliminated Zimbabwe remaining for them afterwards, I dont see them coming all out to attack on Tuesday.
They know we struggle against low blacks, they also know we are slow, while that are a quick, sleek, 1 touch and conter attacking side with deadly precision.
They are most definitely going to park the bus and try to catch our slow team on the counter. And when they lose the ball, the know we are very slow and unintelligent in our build up.
This SE team is easy to tame even by any serious average coach. It’s not shocking we’ve only managed 1 goal in almost all the games we played sọ far.
Could you believe that more than 80% of South African supporters watched the match between Nigeria vs Rwanda, compared to Nigerian that were just less than 60% according to reports gathered?
Hmm! I think these South Africans know what we can do. I think they are really scared.