It took a side foot volley in the 86th minute for Lazio’s Fisayo Dele-Bashiru to break the deadlock for Nigeria against Libya in their third Afcon Group D qualifier in Uyo.
Libya had a game plan that involved a bus probably borrowed from Jose Mourinho and parked in front of their goal, with very little effort to trouble Stanley Nwabali in Nigeria’s goal. As the Libyans stuck to their packed defence plan, Nigeria lacked the nous and the wow factor to open them up. While they are favourites to qualify from this group as they sit on top with two wins against Libya and Benin and a draw against Rwanda, this chronic shortage in the creative department will damage Nigeria’s chances of going deep in the tournament next year in Morocco.
Coach Austin Eguavoen started with a midfield of Wilfred Ndidi, Frank Onyeka and Alex Iwobi, with Balon d’Or nominee Ademola Lookman and Moses Simon on the flanks. They struggled all game to provide decent service to Victor Boniface upfront. Onyeka, especially, was poor at ball retention.
Iwobi could have had two goals with better decision making and Nigeria created goal-scoring opportunities mostly by accident rather than design.
The home team thought they had the lead when Lookman put the ball in the net in the 83rd minute only for it to be ruled out by an offside flag. The decision would have been surely turned down if VAR was available in this game.
As the game was grinding its way towards a draw, which would have been like a win for Libya, Eguavoen threw in substitutes Samuel Chukwueze, Taiwo Awoniyi, Raphael Onyedika and Dele-Bashiru. The midfielder from Rome would prove to be an inspired substitution as he connected with one of the few decent crosses from Simon to break Libyan hearts.
Nigeria made hard work of beating the game but limited Libyans. Sterner tests lie ahead, especially in the World Cup qualifiers.
