“They wasted 15 out of 45 minutes” – Eguavoen condemns Libya’s delay antics

Super Eagles coach Augustine Eguavoen has condemned Libya's time wasting antics in their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers clash on Friday, Soccernet.ng reports.

Nigeria continued their good start to the 2025 AFCON qualifiers when they defeated Libya in their third game of the series. Going into the game, the Super Eagles were favourites to claim the maximum three points, and they hit the ground running upon kick-off.

Nigeria started pressing for goals from the blast of the whistle, but they struggled to create many clear-cut chances to score in the first half. Libya,  on the other hand, were just content with soaking up the pressure with the hope of a lucky break.

The first half ended goalless, and in the second half, the Libyans descended to time-wasting tactics. In the first 15 minutes of the second half, the Libyan goalkeeper wasted over four minutes receiving treatment after a little bump from Victor Boniface.

Murad Al Wuheesi also took a lot of time to play his goal kicks. And it was on one of those occasions that he earned a yellow card.

Eventually, Nigeria scored the winning goal. However, coach Eguavoen was not pleased with their time wasting antics.

“I think the Libyans used delay tactics because we have out time keepers in the name of Thomas and Boborise. They wasted 14 to 15 minutes out if the 45 minutes, which is not so good,” Eguavoen said.

“They are a good side , you could see that they could move the ball if they wanted to move the ball. But trying to bring in such strategies is a good thing, they should just play normally.

“When we scored the late goal, they came out. Maybe they overrespected us thinking if they came out, we were going to score a lot of goals.

The return leg in Benghazi is just three days away, and the Super Eagles have to be careful to not concede first. If the Libyans score Nigeria first, they would surely use every opportunity to kill time.