A late Fisayo Dele-Bashiru strike earned a dominant Super Eagles a deserved 1-0 win against Libya in Group D of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, inside the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo on Friday, Completesports.com reports.
It was a game that saw the Eagles dominate from start to finish but were denied by a resolute Libyan defending.
But they eventually found the breakthrough as Dele-Bashiru stabbed home a superb cross from Moses Simon.
It is now two wins from three games )one draw) which takes the Eagles’ points to seven, scoring four goals without conceding.
The Eagles will now head to Benghazi for the second leg which comes up on Tuesday, October 15, 2024.
The Eagles started with a familiar starting line-up with Stanley Nwabali in goal, Ola Aina, William Troost-Ekong, Calvin Bassey, Bruno Onyemaechi in defence, Alex Iwobi, Frank Onyeka, Wilfred Ndidi in midfield while the trio of Moses Simon, Victor Boniface and Ademola Lookman in the attack.
In the 3rd minute a dangerous cross from Aina was headed away by a Libyan defender.
Four minutes later -Ekong headed down a set piece but the Libyan defence snuffed out the danger.
Iwobi almost opened the scoring on 11 minutes following a poor clearance inside the box by the Libyans but his left foot strike was stopped by the keeper.
In the 34th minute a dangerous cross from Simon saw the Libyan keeper punch the ball against his own player before the ball rolled out of danger.
The Libyans almost profited from a poor pass from Troost-Ekong on 36 minutes but the move was halted for offside.
With five minutes left in the first half Iwobi received a pass inside the box but his left foot strike was stopped by the keeper.
Two minutes of added time in the first half Boniface met a cross from Ademola Lookman but his effort took a slight deflection off a Libyan and rolled out for a corner.
Early in the second half the Eagles had a good chance as Bruno Onyemaechi broke on the left but his low cross was blocked away leading to Boniface colliding with the keeper which caused delay.
In the 56th minute Iwobi had a chance to open the scoring as he was left unmarked inside the box only your head his effort over the bar.
Three minutes later Iwobi had another chance but his acrobatic attempt went over the bar again.
With 20 minutes left Libya went on a counter but the effort was wasted.
Substitute Samuel Chukwueze would have given the Eagles the lead after beating his markers inside the box but saw his goal bound strike come off the keeper.
Few minutes later the AC Milan forward tried a low shot on the edge of the box but the keeper went down well to collect.
With seven minutes left Lookman thought he had opened the scoring after receiving a superb pass from Raphael Onyedika only to see his goal incorrectly ruled out for offside.
But the the Eagles were eventually rewarded on 86 minutes as Dele-Bashiru slotted home a cross from Simon.
The goal forced the Libyans to come out in search of the equaliser but the Eagles held on to claim the three points.
Meanwhile, the group’s other game saw Benin Republic thrashed Rwanda 3-0 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
The result means Benin Republic are in second place on six points, Rwanda (two points) and Libya (one point) are third and fourth respectively.
By Sab Osuji, in Uyo
Got what it Takes?
Predict and Win Millions Now
COMMENTS
Nigeria 1:0 Libya………..what a disgrace!!!
Nigerians I hope you’re seeing yourselves now, let us fail with our own and I am sure you’re enjoying the boredom your own is giving you oooo.
Coaching is way beyond assembling stars to freely express themselves and viola…….the goals start rolling in.
We all can see England last night with all their EPL and RM stars yesterday playing a disjointed game with no purpose and direction leading to a disgraceful loss at Wembley. Lee Carsely was a piece of trash like our own Ogun efon
Same I sweat is playing on here in Uyo, playing a Libyan team with no pedigree and no threats whatsoever but we cannot conjure any meaningful pattern of play to unlock their defence with all our stars from top 5 teams in Europe.
Let anyone who watched this game with an Eagle eye tell me what coaching input or tactical formation they see in this match? We cannot always rely on Osimhen to be able to win against Minnows like Libya and Rwanda who were demolished by Ghenot Rohr’s Benin effortlessly.
South Africa who is our main rival in the WCQ is already 4 goals up in the 1st 50 mins against Congo playing exciting and enterprising football due to the input of their Belgian 72 years old Coach while our dear SE were toiling hard to score a free goal against a hapless Libyan team.
NFF Onigbese, all we are saying……………give us a World class Foreign Coach………..these local jeunjeun coaches can never lead us anywhere meaningful for God sake
It is because Osimhen was not there.
Besides the fact that Osimhen wasn’t there, there are off days in football but it takes discerning minds. That means you must have a good judgement.
When last did Senegal, for example, have off days in qualifiers? They even changed coach recently but what was the score today?
International matches for a so called giant of Africa like Nigeria should not have off days. How many matches do they play in a year?
I wonder what eagles will play on Libya’s artificial pitch on Tuesday.
As long as many dead weights in the team still receive unmerited call up to the team with the blessing of only LOCAL COACHES, that world cup mess we, scratch that, they are in will be sustained
Come o! Let’s reason this matter well, abeg who else saw that “offside” that that kolo linesman called on Lookman’s goal? A pure and perfect goal and that agbero found a way to put up his flag?
The powers that be should call that guy up and give him a very strongly worded warning chaii!
I mean how on earth could anyone have seen that as offside??
Mehn, wonders will never end o! If we hadn’t won that game somehow, can you imagine how annoyed people will be now? Woah!
You did not blame today mtcheeew.
Nff don’t have the money to higher a world class coach
Coach Eguavoen going strong!
There will always be criticisms. And there is no team in the world that is perfect.
Some folks here consider Otto Addo of Ghana to be a world-class coach.
What would he not have given for his team to score a goal at home yesterday?
And mind you, that was the second straight home game, his team couldn’t buy a goal.
Anyway, congratulations to Coach Augustine Eguavoen and his players!
After this qualifiers that victor Boniface should just stay away from the team(if he doesn’t improve)…jeez that guy too slow, SLUGGISH, turning in a lazy fashion…
But mehn kudos to victor osimehn for that world class goal mehn… Without him there is no super eagles just like how we are seeing how Napoli is struggling under conte at 17 position….
And kudos to Moses simon…just winning every one on one challenges…he should be rated 9/10
Congratulations seven points from Three matches. We keep moving.
Eguavoen did well because Libya packed the bus. Inferior Complex is the problem. We don’t need Oyinbo coach.
Congratulations to Eguaveon’s boys. Downing one for the road.
Many scoring opportunities.. Make it happen next time and Good luck
What is the process of selecting players? By looking at the list I can tell there is an agenda and there are hands behind the scenes pulling up players (tribalism idc). Most people’s concerns are that the midfield is terrible, yet it’s crowded with the same players. Nothing but dribblers.
In England for example they have a press conference on when the list is released. Journalists ask questions like “Why did you select this player?” Or “How come you didn’t select this player? And the manager answers on the spot. Most of the time its on players’ performances and consistency with a top team. They want the best. Even this past euros rashford, sancho, grealish and maguire wasn’t picked for the team. They weren’t picked because they had a poor season and yet england still made it to the final. When journalists asked why ben white wasn’t on the list and Gareth Southgate said he declined or refused the call up. They move on from players quick if you dont produce. danny wellback, danny ings, cavert lewin, jamie vardy (left and retired from international scene to focus on club career when wasnt used in 2018 world cup). While on the nigerian team players who have not improved still get called up.
If im not mistaken in nigeria there is no press conference to ask those questions, the list just randomly shows up. In a 3rd world country its gives them a leeway to do that. Nigerians generally overrate their players. A lot of these football players play for bottom half teams and sometimes don’t even see the field. You have to use what you got. So the next best thing is for player consistency on the top tier football no matter what team it is. Belgium, czech, etc. Not league 2 of albania. If you can qualify for the champions league and face different teams in europe that benefits the team. Awoniyi since his desperate move to the premier league forest has been injury prone despite his on field prowess. A lot of players here have experience on losing teams, used to losing and on average that’s the best nigerians can do and bring to the national team.
There will soon be players who will opt not to play. Like I feel boniface soon will and I don’t blame him. He mentioned he don’t like the premier league, one of the very few nigerians to say that. And he may be focusing on club career. He probably sees things differently. How terrible the average footballing career is for a nigerian. He’s been off to a good start in the club and he doesn’t want to lose momentum. When players return to their club from the nigerian team they always come back injured.
Listen, you can chop and change the lineup all you want, but the most important thing is to have consistency with partnership. When man u was losing they had a record of different partnerships at the back and the valid excuse was because they had a lot of missing players due to injury. With partnerships you know strengths, weaknesses and create combos. Everyday people here always name dropping players who should be called up. You can have a million different nigerians playing for the football team and they still won’t succeed on an international level, as big of a population nigeria has. They are not a threat.
I can see why people retire early from the nigerian team. Victor moses, Odion etc.
Consistency (playing regularly): Ademola, Ola Aina, Dele-Bashiru, Boniface, Dessers, Bassey. I mean I remember simmy was scoring goals and was a top 5 goal scorer in serie a for a bottom team and didnt receive a call up.
International tournaments are a place where club teams do scouting. Happened in the euros when mikel merino from spain and calafiori from italy moved to arsenal. Manuel ugarti from uruguay moved to man united. But during afcon tournaments there are really no movements after African tournaments.
People always throw out how the foreign born players cant play African football. Is African football even good? Is it good for international level? Morocco has foreign born players and they made it to 4th place this past world cup based on the coach playing style. They actually beat european teams like portugal. Ill say that the north african teams are arabs, so they will do well together because they are all the same, asians are known for teamwork. Even foreign coaches who coached in South Korea and Japan say so. The nigerian team for example is a team with different ethnic groups, a lot of players have their own agenda, own style and play differently. It’s honestly night and day how some players are effective and play well while others don’t. Especially the midfield consisting of dribblers and I will keep on saying this, people main complaint here is the midfield. Lookman was yelling at iwobi for not passing the ball during the Libya game. And you have coaches and even backroom staff that have a hand on selecting players based on ethnic agenda, like the midfield. Players play well for clubs but not for the national team. What is the motivation to play for? And you have players who play well for the national team but are terrible for the club, like james rodrigues for colombia. After the breakout world cup 2014 got a move to madrid and bayern munich and had an underwhelming career. He did well for this past copa america. Pesiero did well with the team, got to 2nd place in the last afcon by playing defensively, most likely because leaking goals was the problem and or not scoring enough goals. A lot of results were 1-0, a lot of grinding out. So the players listen to the foreign coach? There’s just so much nuances for this team
One thing I know is the corruption is stronger than football
You’re very correct. I thought I was the one that noticed it. For the very large part of the first half, Lookman was intentionally starved. I could see thst all balls went to Simon with very poor outputs. Iwobi was just aimless, losing chances and couldn’t produce a single through pass into the pass. What he failed to do for over 80 mins, Dele did it in less than 10. Seriously, there are player cabals in the team. The explosion is a matter of time. We need a good foreign coach that will be select the best players. No like how this dumb Eguaveon is doing, selecting a League One player and Iheanacho who turned the SE camp to where clothes are sold. Stupid@
Baba grow away from this mindset. All ur comments are usually the same. If you do away with ur way of thinking you’ll see things clearly.
Boniface should not go near that team. He has been poor in the last 3 matches he played. Cyril Dessers should come back. Can our coach make the call, I doubt it.
So if Osimhen is injured, we have to rely on wingers and midfielders to do the scoring? Boniface should hope this was not his last chance to prove himself.
Iwobi has no business wearing Super Eagles JERSEY again. NOT A NUMBER 10. NDIDI whom I have blamed before is far more skillful than Iwobi. A 10 that cannot dribble goat.
Indeed, You are right. No wonder Iwobi opened up Libya’s defence twice and himself drew 3 saves from libya’s GK in the first half alone in the game.
Next time you see iwobi in the SE, pls hang yourself.
I really don’t understand where the bitter hate on that boy us coming from.
Your more skillful Ndidi never created a single opening nor took a single shot even off target despite the wide space in front of Libya’s penalty area. One of the reasons why our game is so 1 dimensional. Teams already know we have midfielders like ndidi with zero threats through the centre whether from close range or from long range. No wonder he was yanked off for Ralph Onyedika…LMAOoo
Liar of the highest order. Which defense did he open. Iwobi was just a shadow of himself. Bashir should start in tripoli. Time we begin to try other strikers. Boniface has been given too many chances. Dessers didn’t even get up to this number of matches before he started scoring. Well maybe they need to bench that selfish Lookman, every time he pairs with him, he doesn’t get the ball.
Hahahaha….Òde…LMAOoo
Okponu Olodo Oshi
Why not got back and re-watch the game….Let us see who the shameless Liar is between the 2 of us.
Watch his 21st minute exquisite side footed through pass to Lookman and again in the 39th minute or thereabout.
Okponu.
Iwobi was a shadow of himself but drew 3 point blank&m saves from Libya’s goalkeeper in the first half alone…LMAOoo
Your brain must be a shadow of itself.
By the way, When are you going to update us on the the scoreline of PE teacher’s team….LMAOoo…abi your village people don cut your internet today….?! LMAOoo
PE teacher’s lowly Benin republic is in contention to qualify for both AFCON and World Cup o….LMAOoo.
Oloriburuku Ọmọ epe.
BELLEFACE abi na Boniface.
The talent is there in abundance. So what is the problem?
He made a few moves today that I liked. One time, he almost bulldozed his way into the Libya box 18. He tried to drop deep and link up with players around him. But the problem he has is the same problem SE strikers have been having. Onuachu, Awoniyi, Sadiq, Simy Nwankwo, Dessers, even Osimhen. They all share this one big problem – POOR SERVICE.
A striker needs service. And the inadequate service is purely a coaching issue. A good coach will fashion out ways to ensure that his strikers are not starved of service. Combination plays, crosses into the box, set pieces – these are tools a good coach uses to create opportunities for his players.
Boni did not have a single clear cut chance today, AGAINST COMMON LIBYA. We huffed and puffed, but struggled to break Libya down. We usually struggle to break down teams that pack the bus. It’s a weakness Nigeria has always had. A good coach will find ways to adapt to match situations, and proactively respond to opponent’s tactics.
So while Boniface has not impressed, the fact is this same Boniface will do very well under the right coach. Our underperforming players will fare much better under a more savvy tactician. We can continue to settle and keep wallowing in mediocrity, or we can take our game to the next level by hiring a WORLD CLASS COACH.
Thank you @pompei for this honest truth
Many of you can talk, analyse and cry all you like but all we need is for Onigbese NFF to do the rightful by giving us a coach with a winning mentality and tactics.
When was the last time SE scored from Free kicks, where is that positional play that confuses the opposition defence, where is that savvy runs by our striker while the midfielder can just put the ball into space knowing his striker will be right there to bury……………..all these are things they should be practicing in training sessions and not simply playing 11 vs 11 during training
If we continue with this coach, then I promise you all that we will kiss WC 2026 a resounding goodbye