AFCON 2025 Qualifiers: Four takeaways from Nigeria’s goalless draw against Rwanda

The Super Eagles of Nigeria, despite their fiery attack, were unable to find the back of the net at the Stade Amahoro in Kigali, playing a goalless draw against Rwanda.Soccernet.ng takes a deeper look into four talking points from today’s game. 

1. AFCON Qualifying games should have the Video Assistant referee system in place.

Today’s referee, the Moroccan Karim Sarby, wrongly disallowed Ademola Lookman’s first-half goal, ruling it out for an offside in the absence of VAR,  when the Atalanta man was in fact, well onside.

While the Super Eagles had opportunities to have scored on other occasions, tiny details like this affect the outcome of the game.

2. The Super Eagles lack clinicality in front of goal. 

The three-time AFCON winners had 20 shots in total, and nine were on target. While the game flowed seamlessly for Eguavoen’s men, it could be an underlying problem in the long run if Nigeria are unable to score a goal from nine attempts.

3. Rwanda goalkeepers performance was one to behold. 

While the Super Eagles should have found the back of the net at least once, Rwanda’s Fiacre Ntwali was the major reason the game ended goalless.

The 24-year-old made a whopping nine saves to keep Rwanda in the game, and was applauded by many in what was an undoubtable man-of-the-match performance.

4. Super Eagles are looking sharp under Eguavoen.

While it might still be early days, it is evident Nigeria have gotten into groove under Eguavoen’s tutelage. Their attempted 20 shots today was more than they managed in four games under Finidi George, hinting that the AFCON 2023 finalists might be set for a transition into attacking football under their stand-in coach.