Nigeria defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina in Brazil to progress to the 2nd round of the 2014 World Cup. That was the last time Nigeria knew how it felt to celebrate a win. Several games down the line, the Super Eagles have struggled with getting a win and have had to make do with defeats to lowly rated teams in Africa. The AFCON 2015 qualifiers started poorly for the Super Eagles with just one point from three games. With 3 games left, Nigeria had only one option: “Win The Last Three Games”

Ahmed Musa scored a brace in the Abuja National Stadium as Nigeria got their first win in the qualifiers. The CSKA Moscow forward who also grabbed a brace against Argentina in the World Cup opened scoring in the 48th after collecting a pass from Mikel Obi, technically easing through the Sudanese defence to place the ball beyond the goalie.

Ahmed Musa-Keshi

The Eagles were stunned 7 minutes later as the Sudanese got a breakaway equalizer through Salah Ibrahim. China based Aaron Samuel scored a difficult volley from his left foot to restore the African Champions’ lead in the 66th Minute following a defensive mix up between the Sudanese goalie and his defender. Musa made sure of all three points late on following a defensive lapse on the 90th minute before being substituted to a sounding ovation from the crowd.

Lessons from the Victory:

  • Ahmed Musa is Nigeria’s current best player.
  • Mikel Obi can be better if he wishes to be
  • Aaron Samuel had a great game. So did Juwon Oshinawa and Raheem Lawal.
  • There is something wrong the center backs.
  • Emenike needs striking help
  • Destiny in the Eagles’ hands

In the other group game, South Africa and Congo played out a goalless draw in South Africa. The result keeps South Africa on top of group A with 8 points, closely followed by Congo with 7 points. Nigeria is third with 4 points with Sudan bottom with 3 points.

Other interesting results from the African continent includes Congo DR’s 4-3 win away to Cote D’Ivoire. The Ivoirens came from behind twice to level scores at 3-3 but the Zaire boys grabbed a late winner to deny the Elephants a home victory. 10 man Ethiopia also grabbed a win in Bamako with a 3-2 victory over hosts Mali. The east Africans lost the first leg 2-0 few days ago at home.

The Full Results (Match day 3 and 4):

Group A
Congo 0-2 South Africa
Sudan 1-0 Nigeria
Nigeria 3-1 Sudan
South Africa 0-0 Sudan

Group B
Malawi 0-2 Algeria
Ethiopia 0-2 Mali
Algeria 3-0 Malawi
Mali 2-3 Ethiopia

Group C
Lesotho 0-0 Angola
Gabon 2-0 Burkina Faso
Angola 4-0 Lesotho
Burkina Faso 1-1 Gabon

Group D
DR Congo 1-2 Cote d’Ivoire
Sierra Leone 0-0 Cameroon
Cameroon 2-0 Sierra Leone
Cote d’Ivoire 3-4 DR Congo

Group E
Guinea 1-1 Ghana
Uganda 0-1 Togo
Ghana 3-1 Guinea
Togo 1-0 Uganda

Group F
Niger 0-0 Zambia
Mozambique 2-0 Cape Verde
Cape Verde 1-0 Mozambique
Zambia 3-0 Niger

Group G
Botswana 0-2 Egypt
Senegal 0-0 Tunisia
Egypt 2-0 Botswana
Tunisia 0-2 Senegal

As it stands, Algeria continued from where they stopped in the World cup. They are yet to drop a point in this qualifiers winning all of their 4 games played. Algeria has qualified for Morocco 2015. South Africa, Gabon, Cameroon, Ghana and Tunisia are the remaining unbeaten side in the qualifiers. Giants Egypyt, Cote D’Ivoire and Nigeria have a lot of work to do if they are to be in Morocco come January 2015. Kudos to Cape Verde, Mozambique, DR Congo and Congo for making the qualifiers more difficult for the bigger teams.

What an African Break.

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