Super Eagles and Super Falconets both lift Nigerian spirits with emphatic wins yesterday

NIGERIA enjoyed a great day of football yesterday with two emphatic victories as the Super Eagles beat Benin Republic 3-0 in an African Cup of Nations qualifier and the Super Falconets hammered Venezuela 4-0 to qualify for the U20 Women's World Cup Round of 16.

Bouncing back from what has been a torrid few months, the Super Eagles soared to an emphatic victory in Uyo in their first match of the qualification series. They will now face Rwanda in Kigali on Tuesday in their second game, hoping for another win that will set them on the road for qualification for Morocco 2025.

While this was happening, the Super Falconets also cruised to victory in emphatic style in their Final Group D game at the ongoing Women's World Cup taking place in Colombia, thrashing Venezuela at the Estadio Pascual Guerrero in Cali. Three first half goals and a fourth in stoppage time at the end of the match, ensured that the team ended the group phase with six points, having beaten South Korea in their opening game.

Super Eagles caretaker coach Augustine Eguavoen has attributed Nigeria’s 3-0 victory over Benin Republic to the quality of the players rather than the tactical system used. Leading the team out in his fourth stint as coach, Eguavoen opted for a 3-4-3 formation and his strikers delivered goals with Ademola Lookman striking twice and Victor Osimhen, coming off the bench to add a third.

Eguavoen said: “The formation is only information. We have players of quality and we can decide to play with any system. I know that with the calibre of players we have, we can decide to play any formation and be successful.”

Super Falconets head coach Christopher Danjuma for his part made two changes to the side that lost against Germany in their last match and it worked wonders. Shukurat Bakare was replaced with Faith Omilana while Olushola Shobowale replaced Oluchi Ohaegbulem.

Early on in the game, the Falconets got their first sniff of goal in the 11th minute when Amina Bello found the run of Chiamaka Okwuchukwu who was denied from scoring by Venezuelan goalkeeper Tibayre Rodriguez.  Bello herself then missed a golden chance to put Nigeria ahead from Jumoke Alani's pass but quickly made amends a few seconds later.

Okwuchukwu made light work of her markers before setting up the midfielder to open the scoring. After that, things then opened up as Okwuchukwu then gave the Falconets a two-goal cushion with a bullet header in the 28th minute

Flourish Sabastine then got her name on the scoresheet in the 45th minute of the first-half stoppage time, pouncing on a mistake of Venezuela's defenders.

Joel Igbokwe scored a fantastic fourth goal just before the final whistle, dinking the ball over the Venezuelan goalkeeper for a goal of the tournament contender.  Nigeria will now face the winner of Group E, which will be either Japan or Austria on September 12, at the Estadio El Techo, Bogotá.