Resurgent Super Eagles Maul Cheetahs in AFCON 2025 Qualifier

Femi Solaja

In what looks like a rebirth of the national team, the Super Eagles regained their winning mentality yesterday following a 3-0 demolition of the Cheetahs of Benin Republic on Match-day one of the ongoing AFCON 2025 qualifiers. 

It was the first time the Super Eagles won a match since 10th September 2023 when they defeated Sao Tome and Principe 6-0 in the final qualifying game of the last AFCON tournament in Cote d’Ivoire.

Incidentally, the resurgence of the Super Eagles was at the same Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo where they decimated São Tomé.

It was Ballon d’Or nominee, Ademola Lookman, no doubt the ‘Man of the Match’ for Nigeria, who opened the scoring on the dot of halftime before Victor Osimhen who started from the bench doubled the lead within the final quarter. Lookman returned to score his second goal to give Nigeria the third goal before a near-capacity crowd at the Uyo stadium.

The encounter, no doubt was a sort of revenge for Super Eagles after their 2-1 defeat by the Cheetahs in a 2026 World Cup qualifying match in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire last June.

The Coach Augustine Eguavoen-led Super Eagles was the better of the two teams right from kick off.

He got his formation right as he took a leaf from former Jose Peseiro’s playbook to set the Super Eagles up in a 3-4-3 formation.

Captain William Troost-Ekong returned to the central defence role between Calvin Bassey and Semi Ajayi while Ola Aina and Bruno Onyemaechi slotted in perfectly at the wingback. Wilfred Ndidi and Alex Iwobi started in the middle of the pack.

Interestingly, Victor Boniface got the nod in attack ahead of Osimhen with Samuel Chukwueze and Ademola Lookman flanking the Bayer Leverkusen striker.

Still, Nigeria looked nervous and played with too much caution in the early stages, finding little joy going forward against a Benin side set up to be hard to break down by Gernot Rohr.

With the Super Eagles lacking fluidity in their movement and efficiency in their decision-making, Benin grew in confidence and began to threaten on the counter.

However, a couple of half chances came the way of Boniface, Lookman and Chukwueze but no one could manage to stick the ball into the back of the net.

It appeared as though the half would peter out into a goalless affair when Lookman struck with only seconds left on the clock.

The Atalanta forward charged into the penalty box after trapping a loose ball and he showed excellent dribbling skills to evade three markers before beating the goalkeeper with a low drive.

It was Lookman’s seventh goal for Nigeria since making his Super Eagles debut in March 2022. Only Osimhen has scored now scored more than the Ballon d’Or nominee within that period.

That Lookman goal stung Benin awake from their slumber and they came smoking at the start of the second half.

Eguavoen sent in Olisa Ndah, Moses Simon, and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru to replace Bassey, Chukwueze, and Iwobi.

Still, it did not halt the Benin momentum and goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali had to make two brilliant saves in 60 seconds to protect Nigeria’s advantage.

Super Eagles weathered that storm to Eguavoen’s relief and the coach, shortly after, sent in Osimhen to take over from Boniface.

The new Galatasaray signing had barely been on the pitch for five minutes when he doubled Nigeria’s advantage.

The Super Eagles surged forward on the right flank from where Ndidi sent in a low cross which Osimhen smacked beyond the reach of the opposing goalkeeper.

It is Osimhen’s 22nd goal for the Super Eagles, which takes him clear of Yakubu Aiyegbeni on Nigeria’s record goal-scorers list. He is now only one shy of Segun Odegbami while the great Rashidi Yekini remains a mile out.

The Super Eagles were not done yet though and in the 83rd minute, Ademola Lookman got his second of the game and Nigeria’s third.

The Super Eagles will now honour their next fixture against Rwanda on Tuesday with the hope of consolidating their lead.