By Johnny Edward:
The Super Eagles of Nigeria moved to the top of their 2019 African Nations qualifying Group E after defeating home side Libya 3-2 at the Stade Taieb Mhiri in Sfax, Tunisia on Tuesday, reports Completesportsnigeria.com.
A goal in each half from Odion Ighalo and another strike from Ahmed Musa gave the Super Eagles their third straight win in Group E.
Mohamed Zubya and Ahmed Ben Ali were on the scoresheet for the Libyan team.
Gernot Rohr’s men started brilliantly stroking crispy passes but failed to create a chance.
In the 17th minute, a quick interchange of passes between Musa and Alex Iwobi saw the Al Nassr forward laying a perfect pass for Ighalo to finish off with a simple tap from four yards out.
Ighalo returned the favour three minutes later when he found Musa in the box and the former Leicester City star blitzed pass two defenders before slotting his shot past Libyan goalkeeper.
Mohamed Zaebbia forced a good save from Francis Uzoho in the 23rd minute after he comfortably beating Jamilu Collins on the byline.
Zaebbia made amends for his earlier miss by heading in from close range to half the deficit for Libya in the 35th minute.
At the start of the second half, the Nigerian team lost their shape and were on the backfoot.
After so much pressure, the Super Eagles conceded another goal after Ahmed Ben Ali’s rebound shot from close range beat Uzoho, but an individual brilliance from Ighalo sealed all three points for the Super Eagles with nine minutes left to play.
The strike was Ighalo’s sixth in three games in the 2019 Africa Cup Nations qualifiers.
The other Group E game between bottom placed Seychelles and South Africa played earlier in Victoria ended in a draw. The Super Eagles now lead Group E with nine points. South Africa whom Nigeria face in Johannesburg on November 17 is second with eight points.
Libya are now third with four points from four games and Seychelles occupy the bottom of the log with one point also from four games.
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COMMENTS
Congregation Nigeria.
Our next match against SA is a must win.
It is an insult for SE to beat Nigeria. Though, I still believe that the first March was a mistake.
We must take our next match very serious.
My fear now is the person that is competent enough to play in Ndidi position as the guy has collected another yellow card.
Congratulations Nigeria!
John Ogu showed enough to deputize for Ndidi. He won his tackles and did very well in the 15 minutes or so that he played.
I’m confident that he will do the job. I only hope he gets the nod ahead of Onazi
Clap, clap, clap, clap… For ighalo… I’m beginning to believe that goals can be made in China, original goals…nice one boys. But our defence line needs to whipped for giving up a 2goal lead. That would be unforgivable against a more experienced side. A lot of work still needs to be done. One good thing about this team is that they’ve begun scoring goals.
Uzoho though young and promising but he looks rusty and lots of improvements he obviously needs to find where to play week in week out to stay top of his game. Still making some school boy errors which a good goalkeeper should not make.
After playing at the world cup I’m expecting some good goalkeeping at his end he obviously has many flews he needs to improve upon besides that the team is looking rejuvenated.
Off to South Africa for a revenge mission.
Ndidi is out against SA next month. He got a needless second yellow card today because he lost his cool when he could have let it go. Thankfully, Mikel will be back for the Bafana game.
Iwobi needs to make quicker decisions and stop dancing on the ball too long. He loses crucial balls at those points and breaks up promising move by the SE.
Kalu was anonymous today. Change of tactics? Or a caution from the coach? Whatever it is, Kalu is good and hardworking. But Rohr, please, biko, ejo, bring back Simon Moses. He’s always a threat, super intelligent and mature in his game play.
Etebo was anonymous too. Ogu enlivened things a bit in the middle when he came on.
Collins and Aina should watch it. South Africans think our wing backs are our weak link. Hopefully, Shehu would have fully recovered and Ebuehi too.
Uzoho blocks well, but I think he needs sharper reflexes that enables him to dive full length and not spill balls dangerously in the 18 yard box.
This is a honest critique, not necessarily a critism. But overall, they came good. Applause to the entire team. Let’s finish this off at FNB, J’burg on November 16! Go Super Eagles!
Good analysis Kel, I also think Balogun’s lack of game time in the Premier league has left him match rusty. That header of a first goal by the Libyans was totally his fault. Generally we are not bad but we are still not good with the ball in the air both offensively and defensively.I was always afraid each time opposing teams get free kicks or corner kicks against us bcos we almost always dont clear them in the air and it happened today again.Our left full backs also are average. Ekong is the only one who really gave a very good account of himself today. Kudos to Ighalo am beginning to believe in him. He braced up cos of Isaac Success’ inclusion. We must also get a competitor for Uzoho cos hes now feeling too comfortable in the role. GOD BLESS NIGERIA.
Nice analysis Kel!
Good win for Nigeria, but still alot to clean up. If we were playing a much more experienced team like Eygpt or Senegal we could have being punished many times between both games. Ighalo knew this was his last chance or else rohr would not be able to keep justifying his selection and he responded well, good for him. Also Rohr needs to learn when to sub in players for goodness sake, he keeps waiting til very late to bring in fresh legs. And i think that second goal by libya was as a result of our players being fatigued. It’s well, hopefully we complete the mission next month in SA.
Ighalo the Beast! I throway salute, I did not want Rohr to invite you, but guess I was wrong, that is why I am not the Coach. Your second goal made my day, it was brilliant and superb. pls continue in this form