The Super Eagles made it two wins out two in the Group L of the AFCON 2021 qualifiers following a win over Lesotho at the Sesotho Stadium on Sunday.
Goals from Alex Iwobi, Samuel Chukwueze and a brace from the brilliant Osimhen ensured the Super Eagles maintained a perfect start in the qualifiers.
With the win over the Crocodiles, the Super Eagles are now three points clear of their nearest challengers, Benin Republic. However, the result was not the only big headline from the encounter, hence Soccernet.ng takes a look at some of the talking points from the clash.
Alex Iwobi Responds To Critics: His recent performance in the Eagles jersey was criticised by many including me. Despite being given the chance to play in the No 10 role, Iwobi failed to convince his critics particularly in the win over Benin.
He played like he was scared of going into challenges, did not create any real chance, and his end product was poor. However, he put in a decent performance against Lesotho, scoring the first goal. His off-ball movement was also impressive as it helped to create spaces for Nigeria’s strikers. Although he is no shoo-in for the No 10 role, he has strengthened his claim for that position with his performance on Sunday.
Slow Start Again: For the second game running, Nigeria had to come from behind to secure the victory. The Super Eagles conceded in the opening two minutes against Benin, while they also experienced the same against Lesotho.
Although they won both games, the team have to stop the trot of conceding early in games. In his post-match conference, Super Eagles manager, Gernot Rohr revealed he has no problem with his side conceding first as long as they win the game. But this may not happen all the time especially against high quality teams that have the tools to hurt any team.
Osimhen To Break Yekini’s Record: Nwankwo Kanu, Obafemi Martins, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Victor Agali, Peter Odemwingie, Julius Aghahowa among many others are some of the strikers Nigeria have had in the past. But none has been able to break the late Rashidi Yekini’s goals record.
The former Victoria Setubal striker is currently Super Eagles record goalscorer despite retiring in 1998. However, that could be under threat no thanks to a certain young boy from Lagos called Victor Osimhen.
The Lille striker who only has nine international appearances till date has scored four goals in those nine games, all of which came in the last four games.
The 20-year-old opened his account in the 2-2 draw against Ukraine, before scoring in the AFCON qualifiers against Benin, and Lesotho. Although he has nine caps so far, five of those came between September and November this year. And that shows Osimhen is averaging more than a goal per game. With age on his side, it won’t be long before Yekini’s record becomes a thing of history especially if Osimhen continues in this form.
What Next For Rohr?: It can only be Nigeria that would start a qualifying campaign well while the future of their coach is uncertain. That’s the case with Rohr whose current contract expires in the next seven months. There have been talks of renewal but no offer has been put on the table.
It’s important the NFF sort this out as soon as possible by offering the German tactician a new contract. That’s the only logical thing to do as it won’t make any sense for another manager to take over in the middle of a qualifying campaign. Over to you NFF.
Good Times For Super Eagles: Although it has been a difficult year for Nigerian football following the disappointment of Super Falcons, Olympic Eagles, Flying Eagles and Golden Eaglets, the Super Eagles have been the only positives in what has been a dark year for Nigeria’s football.
The team won nine out of the 14 games they played in 2019, scoring 22 goals in the process. Some of these wins came against big nations like Cameroon, Egypt, South Africa and Tunisia. There were also impressive draws against Brazil and Ukraine, while they also won the Bronze medal at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
How do you rate the Eagles' performance in 2019?#SoarSuperEagles pic.twitter.com/UBrKd5Uw82
— Soar Super Eagles (@SSE_NGA) November 17, 2019
With a number of young talents still coming in, it can only get better for the Super Eagles, and we could be seeing a team dominating African football for years.
