Nigeria’s Super Eagles on Saturday in Uyo beat the Cheetahs of Benin Republic 3-0 in the qualifiers for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) scheduled for Morocco.
BRANDPOWER reports that in the match played at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, the Nigerian side had total command in spite of a few hiccups.
The Eagles who had lost 1-2 to Benin Republic in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in Abidjan, Cote d’ Ivoire in June took the lead in added time of first half.
Ademola Lookman put Nigeria ahead after going past four defenders before placing beyond the goalkeeper.
Victor Osimhen who replaced Victor Boniface in the 72nd minute, scored the second goal for the Super Eagles in the 78th minute, slicing in a well-calculated pass from Wilfred Ndidi.
Lookman went on to add the third goal in the match’s closing minutes to comfortably place the Super Eagles in their group ahead of their next match on Tuesday in Kigali.
With this victory, the Eagles have put a stop to their three-match winless run at home after whitewashing Sao Tome and Principe 6-0 in September 2023.
BRANDPOWER reports that Nigeria will take on hosts Rwanda in their next group game in Kigali on Tuesday.
Super Eagles can beat any team, says Eguavoen
The interim coach of the Super Eagles, Augustine Eguavoen, said his team can beat any team with the quality of players in the team.
Eguavoen stated this after his team spanked the Cheetahs of Benin Republic 3-0 in the 2025 African Cup Of Nations (AFCON) at the Godswill Akpabio stadium, Uyo, Akwa Ibom on Saturday.
“We have quality players to beat any team but we respect team anyway. Any coach can come in and do the same job with the Super Eagles.
“It is a mindset, we have the potential and how you perceived your opponent, given the information about them and then go out and do the job,“he said.
Equavoen attributed the victory to the formation adopted by the technical crew, adding that any formation could be used to ensure that the team was successful.
“We can decide to use any system. It is something we discussed and I slept over it. I know with the caliber of players that we have, we can decide to play any formation.
“Football is about you win, lose and draw, I don’t believe we have a poor result,” he said.
He, however, said that the former Super Eagles coach didn’t do a good job but it has to do with believe, what is at stake and what you want to achieve.
“Psychologically as a group, we are agreed, where we are and where we are going to be. We will definitely achieve it,” Equavoen said.
He commended the performance of the defence , describing it as superb, adding that the team had been training together for one week.
The coach said that asking six players to warm up for the second half was to buy time, adding that there was no need to rush to change.
He said the Cheetahs of Benin Republic were a good team, adding that they came with a good game plan.
BRANDPOWER reports that Eguavoen was appointed interim coach after the deal between the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) and coach Bruno Labbadia failed.
NFF explained in a statement that it failed due to the stringent regulations of German tax authorities.
