ANDREW EKEJIUBA
Cameroon- bound Super Eagles are looking forward to a colourful house party against the Crocodiles of Lesotho at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, on Tuesday as the qualifiers for the Africa Cup of Nations wind down at various centres in the continent.
Substitute Paul Onuachu’s last-gasp bullet header secured all the points, restored the Nigeria team’s winning mentality and condemned Benin Republic to a dogfight with the Leone Stars in their own encounter in Freetown also on Tuesday.
A brace by Victor Osimhen and one each by Alex Iwobi and Samuel Chukwueze steered the Eagles to a 4-2 win over the Crocodiles when both teams met in Maseru 16 months ago. Nkoto Masoabi rose highest in-between two Nigerian defenders to nod powerfully past Daniel Akpeyi in the 11th minute before Nigeria, swung into action, pumped four goals past goalkeeper Moerane Sekhoane. An own goal by defender Chidozie Awaziem gave the scoreline a semblance of respectability for the hosts.
The Confederation of African Football has picked Cape Verde official Fabricio Duarte to take charge of proceedings as referee with his compatriots Jorge Correia Semedo Helio (assistant 1), Delgado Fernandes Wilson Jorge (assistant referee 2) and Antonio Manuel Fortes Tony Rodrigues (fourth official) also on duty. The match commissioner is Haruna Mawanda from Uganda while Nick Owusu from Ghana will serve as security officer. Alex Kotey, also from Ghana, will be referees’ assessor.
The Crocodiles’ delegation flew into Nigeria on Monday morning, while the match commissioner and referees arrived in Nigeria on Sunday. The security officer and referees’ assessor have been in Lagos since Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Super Eagles players held their final workout at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos on Monday evening.
Their last training session was supervised by manager Gernot Rohr and was open to the media for only the first fifteen minutes before everyone was forced to exit the stadium.
No journalist was allowed into the stadium when the Lesotho national team came to have a feel of the Teslim Balogun Stadium turf due to COVID-19 protocols in place.
Nigeria are guaranteed to top Group L of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers regardless of the outcome of their final match against Lesotho as they are currently on 11 points, four more than the Republic of Benin, who are second in the standings.