Iheanacho, Iwobi shine as Super Eagles down Liberia 2-0

The Super Eagles of Nigeria opened their Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign with a comfortable 2-0 over the Lone Stars of Sierra Leone on Friday.

Leicester City hitman Kelechi Iheanacho and Everton midfielder Alex Iwobi ran riot on the day, delivering a brace and two assists respectively to send the Super Eagles soaring above the Lone Stars.

Iheanacho opened the scoring in the 30th minutes after a smart corner routine, exchanging passes with Iwobi, Seniorman rifled in a low shot beating the Liberian showstopper at his near post. Osimhen could have doubled the Super Eagles lead, but the Napoli front frontman saw his rebound sail inches wide.

Iheanacho doubled his tally, deftly controlling an Iwobi header with his left foot, finishing sweetly with a placed right-footed shot.

The Nigerians were the dominant side going into halftime and could have increased their lead early in the second half, but Rangers defender, Leon Balogun saw his header sail wide.

Nigeria continued to push forward and could have scored more, but will be satisfied with their dominating performance.

The Super Eagles have their sights set on the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde who they hope to pick off when they clash on Tuesday, September 7th, but will be without today’s star performers, Iheanacho and Iwobi, due to UK COVID regulations on red-list countries.

Though the NFF President, Amaju Pinnick revealed in an interview with CNN, today, that the football body has applied to the English FA for special consideration, akin to the one extended to European countries after the 2020 European Championships, but as things stand , UK-based players are almost certain to miss the Cape Verde fixture.