Nigeria survives Sierra Leone scare to qualify for AFCON

The Super Eagles of Nigeria have secured qualification to the 2024 Confederation of African Football (CAF) Africa Cup of Nations tournament scheduled for Ivory Coast from January 2024 to February 2024.

The tournament was initially scheduled to hold in the summer of 2023 in the West African country, but weather conditions in the host country changed the plans as the summer period was unsuitable due to heavy rainy weather conditions.

A couple of teams had secured their qualifications before match day 5 of the qualifiers, with teams like Egypt, Algeria, AFCON title holders Senegal, South Africa, and Morocco joining the Hosts.

The Super Eagles needed just a draw despite sitting behind Guinea-Bissau in Group A, and such a result or anything except a Sierra Leone win would have sent the group leaders, Guinea-Bissau, and three-time winners Nigeria through to the competition.

On an artificial pitch in Monrovia, Liberia, where the game was played as CAF couldn’t find a worthy venue in Sierra Leone, both teams struggled to keep the ball on the pitch, but Nigeria went ahead after nineteen minutes thanks to Napoli forward Victor Osimhen, who lobbed the opposition goalkeeper from the edge of the box.

The Seria A’s top scorer, as Napoli won the title, doubled Nigeria’s lead in the 32nd minute, poking the ball beyond the goalkeeper. However, the Leone stars struck through Mustapha Bundu from the edge of the box before halftime to pull them back into the game.

Augustus Kargbo ensured a tense finale with his spectacular effort six minutes before full time to give Sierra Leone the hopes of a comeback win, but Leicester City forward Kelechi Iheanacho ended his over 1-year goal drought for the national team poking home from good work on the flanks by FC Porto defender Zaidu Sanusi.

The win also ended Sierra Leone’s hopes of going to the AFCON while Nigeria and Guinea-Bissau moved into the competition from group A.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu