By: Alusine Rehme Wilson
Yesterday, the 2023-AFCON qualifier match-day-1 host the Super Eagles of Nigeria flew higher on their Mohamed K.O Abiola home turf in Abuja as they came from behind to beat John Edward Keister’s men 2-1 in their Group-A opener.
Eleven-(11) minutes on in the crunch Group-A tie, it was the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone that waved their tri-national colors of green, white and blue flags way higher at in front of a frustrated Super Eagles home crowd after Sierra Leone’s talismanic winger Jonathan Mosaray scored to put his team ahead in the match but that lead was short-lived as the hosts restored parity five minutes later courtesy of Alex Iwobi.
17 minutes on in the much talked about tie, it was all leveled between the West African football rivals and both nations worked their guts out in search of the vital days win but the host doubled their lead just four minutes left to the end of the first half as Victor Osimhen slide through the visitors defense and comfortably found the back of the Sierra Leone’s net.
It was 2-2 in the second half and Sierra Leone’s Head Coach John Edward Kiester determined to level the score in Abuja respectively substituted Bo Rangers goal machine Musa Noah “Tombo: Kamara, Jonathan Moseray and John Kamara for Augustus Kargbo, Amada Bakayoko and Mustapah Bundu who all added some strength to the their side with all three substitutes coming closer to score but their efforts were all dashed out by a non-moving Nigerian defense until full time and the host together with their home crowd celebrated widely after snatching the day’s win from Sierra Leone letting them keep their pride at home.
The match outcome tally’s with the remarks the Leone Stars Head Coach at a pre-match press conference in Abuja where he says, “the match was not going to be an easy one for his team.”
However, the Sierra Leone delegation in Liberia will depart Nigeria for Guinea Conakry today to gear up for their first Group-A home match against Guinea-Bissau on Monday, 13th June, 2022 at the General Lansana Conteh Stadium where the nation will be hosting its home matches in the AFCON-2023 qualifiers following a ban on their national stadium by the Confederation of African Football-(CAF).
We have defensive problem
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