THE Super Eagles were denied a big opportunity for a late goal against the Black Stars in Kumasi on Friday night as their Qatar 2022 World Cup playoffs first leg ended in a 0-0 draw.
The Nigerian side were awarded a penalty in the 77th minute of the contest when Idrissu Baba handled the ball in the Ghana box.
The decision was reversed however and a free-kick awarded to Ghana instead after Video Assistant Referee review showed that Kelechi
Iheanacho had fouled the Ghana defender before he handled the ball.
If the penalty decision had stood and the Super Eagles had scored, they would have been lucky to have won the low-quality encounter.
Despite starting with a top-heavy line-up that included Moses Simon, Samuel Chukwueze, Iheanacho and Victor Osimhen, the Super Eagles posed precious little threat to the Ghanaian defence in a disjointed display.
Instead, it was the hosts, backed by over 40,000 very vocal fans, who had more in attack, although they did not fare much better in terms of creating chances.
While the Super Eagles failed to test the Black Stars goalkeeper in the first half, Nigeria’s Francis Uzoho was kept busy and he made a brilliant save before the break.
Super Eagles head coach Austin Eguavoen was quick to make changes early in the second half, taking off the impressive Joe Aribo and the ineffectual Chukwueze for Frank Onyeka and Emmanuel Dennis.
Still, the Super Eagles struggled to get their game together against a Ghanaian team that looked vulnerable if only the Nigerians were more composed on the ball.
The Eagles did finally create one clearcut opportunity 20 minutes to the end when Iheanacho’s clever pass set Simon up with a one-on-one with the Ghana goalkeeper, but the Nantes forward’s shot was saved.
Eguavoen handed a Nigeria debut to Ademola Lookman late on but the Leicester City forward made no difference.
The two sides laboured on to the end with little quality and the draw was the fitting result.
The second leg is scheduled for Tuesday in Abuja, with the winners proceeding to the World Cup in Qatar.
In the other World Cup playoffs first leg on Friday night, Egypt edged out Senegal 1-0 in Cairo less than two months after the Pharaohs lost the Africa Cup of Nations final to the Teranga Lions.
A fourth minute own goal by Saliou Ciss made all the difference ahead of Tuesday’s return fixture in Dakar.
Comments are closed.