Nigeria’s Super Eagles began their 2025 AFCON qualifiers in emphatic style on Saturday, beating the Benin Republic 3-0 at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
Atalanta forward and 2024 Ballon d’Or nominee Ademola Lookman scored a brace, while on loan Napoli striker Victor Osimhen added another goal.
Lookman broke the deadlock with a trademark cut-and-slice finish in first-half stoppage time and completed his brace with another sublime strike in the 83rd minute, while Osimhen came off the bench to score Nigeria’s second following Lookman’s opener.
The victory was the first in five competitive games, with the team’s last outing being a 2-1 defeat against the Benin Republic in Abidjan in June during the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Thanks to the untimely resignation of former coach Finidi George and the last-minute rejection of the Super Eagles job by German coach Bruno Labbadia, the task of guiding the Super Eagles in the first two games of the qualifying series was handed to Augustine Eguavoen, who plotted the revenge with his local assistants and foreign fitness trainer.
Eguavoen took a leaf from Jose Peseiro’s playbook and set the Super Eagles up in a 3-4-3 formation.
After a quite nervous first half, Lookman struck with only seconds left in the first half to calm the arena going into the break. The Atalanta forward charged into the penalty box after trapping a loose ball, and he showed excellent dribbling skills to evade three markers before beating the goalkeeper with a low drive.
Nigeria’s start to the second half proved to be more balanced, but Eguavoen read the game well and rang the changes, which inspired the other goals.
