Nigeria’s Super Eagles on Monday at the 24th September Stadium in Bissau pecked the Wild Dogs of Guinea Bissau by a slim lone goal in the African Cup Men’s Qualifier group A striking super revenge chord for the loss sustained in Abuja Nigeria last Friday.
Fernabache of Turkey striker, Simon Moses scored a perfect penalty 30th minute after defender Cande gave an unacceptable sliding tackle on overlapping Samuel Osayi.
The Wild Dogs plotted a draw playing mass defence and just dropping a payer upfront making it difficult for the Nigerians to score with the forest of legs defending the Guinea Bissau goal post as only an error like the one that birthed the penalty would have given Nigeria a goal especially with three payers on goal machine, Victor Osimhen.
Nigeria meant business from the onset dropping vital players like Ndidi, Ihenacho and Lookman; pumping 20 shots at the Wild Dogs with 6 on target when the Dogs played 8 shots with 2 on target; Nigeria stringed an improved 389 passes with 82% accuracy while The Dogs got 292 with 6% success; Nigerian players were absolutely impatient with 13 foul calls on them to 7 with the only two yellow cards to Nigeria one of which was on hard tackling Captain Kenneth Omeruo with his hard one on Mama Balde in the 36th minute The Wild Dogs played well in defence to diffuse the 9-2 Corner kicks advantage to Nigeria.
A very ugly scene at the blast of the whistle signaling the end of the match was the invasion of the pitch by Guinea Bissau football fans which FIFA stands to claim is injurious to players for which the organizers of the African Cup of Nations, CAF may penalize The Guinea Bissau football authority more so there was no security man in sight.
The first time both teams met was at Rounde Adjia Stadium in Garona, Guinea Bissau on 19th January 2022 in the African Cup of Nations where Nigeria spanked the Wild Dogs 2-0 with goals from Umar Sadiq in 56th and William Troost-Ekong in 75th minute.
Last Friday in Abuja, a high lob from defender, Sangate went to Mama Balde in the 30th minute of play which he chipped above Francis Uzhoho in goal which pathetically beat him neatly for the upset goal which gave the Wild Dogs advantage for their first ever victory over Nigeria and a sensational one that lifted the Wild Dogs to lead group A then. Guinea Bissau got their first ever victory over Nigeria 1-0.
Sierra Leone beat Sa Tome and Principe 2-0 for their first victory in the group on Sunday.
Nigeria now leads the group again with 9 points scoring 13 goals and conceding 2; Guinea Bissau is second with7 points scoring 8 goals and conceding 4; Sierra Leone is third with 5 points scoring 7 goals and conceding 6 while Sao Tome and Principe lies at the bottom of the table with one point scoring 3 goals and conceding a whopping 19 goals.
The Round 5 matches on 12th June in Group A will see Sierra Leone host Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe will host Guinea Bissau. On 4th of September, Guinea Bissau will play Sierra Leone while Nigeria will play Sao Tome and Principe.
Eniola Olatunji reporting.
#CAFTotalEnergyAFCNQualifier.
#NFF.
