Nigeria vs Equatorial Guinea score, result as Victor Osimhen scores but Super Eagles held in Africa Cup of Nations – Sporting News
Nigeria began their Africa Cup of Nations 2023 campaign in inauspicious fashion as they drew 1-1 with Equatorial Guinea in their Group A opener.
The Super Eagles are one of the favourites to win the AFCON title in 2024 and were widely expected to follow hosts Ivory Coast by beginning their tournament with a comfortable win against a team 46 places below them in FIFA’s rankings.
Yet their performance in the sweltering heat of Abidjan’s Olympic Stadium of Ebimpe was not one the handful of Super Eagles fans who had made the trip will have particularly enjoyed. A lack of incisive attacking play and a couple of bad misses from star striker Victor Osimhen means they have now won just one of their past six games in all competitions.
Osimhen did at least get on the scoresheet to cancel out a shock opener from Equatorial Guinea, who are competing at just their fourth AFCON finals and were held to a 1-1 draw by 192nd-ranked Djibouti five days ago in a pre-tournament friendly.
Ivan Salvador gave the unfancied nation the lead after 36 minutes, producing a composed finish from the edge of the box after Osimhen and Zaidu Sanusi had missed presentable openings.
Their advantage was short-lived, Osimhen nodding home Ademola Lookman’s cross barely two minutes later to level the scores, but that was as good as it got for Nigeria, who were persistently thwarted by Alaves goalkeeper Jesus Owono.
Osimhen spurned the best chance of the second half, racing through onto Alex Iwobi’s throughball only to drag his finish wide. The Napoli star will have to sharpen up if Nigeria are going to mount a serious challenge at these finals, not least given a meeting with the hosts is coming up in just four days’ time.
MORE: Nigeria’s complete Africa Cup of Nations squad
Lineups:
Nigeria lineup (4-3-3, right to left): Nwabili (GK) — Aina (Osayi-Samuel), Ajayi, Troost-Ekong, Sanusi (Bassey) — Iwobi (Onuachu), Onyeka, Yusuf (Aribo) — Simon (Chukwueze), Osimhen, Lookman.
Equatorial Guinea (4-2-3-1 right to left): Owono (GK) — Akapo, Orozco Fernandez, Coco, Ndong — Bikoro, Ganet (Balboa) — Buyla (Nabil), Pepin (Eneme), Salvador (Nlavo) — Nsue.
90 + 6 mins: A big scramble in the penalty area ends with Osimhen’s volley flying back towards the left-hand touchline. Nigeria eventually win a corner, but it’s cleared… and that’s that! It finishes level.
90 + 5 mins: Magnificent control and hold-up play from substitute Paul Onuachu, but Nigeria are forced back. Can Equatorial Guinea hold out?
90 mins: Nigeria will have six added minutes to find that critical second goal.
89 mins: It’s looking like this one is drifting towards a draw. Goalscorer Salvador is being taken off for some treatment and may not be able to continue.
82 mins: Balboa heads the delivery away, and Chukwueze’s follow-up cross is poor. Nigeria need to find some magic from somewhere. Calvin Bassey and Bright Osayi-Samuel are on as the Super Eagles make a double full-back change.
80 mins: Into the final 10 minutes we go. Equatorial Guinea are beginning to tire after working very hard in stifling conditions. Aribo wins a free-kick to the left of the area, which could be dangerous…
76 mins: OSIMHEN! Huge chance wasted! Iwobi’s throughball is threaded through a crowd and Osimhen is one-on-one with Owono. He goes for the low finish, but he drags it wide of the left-hand post. He looks forlornly for an offside flag that doesn’t come. Will that be a significant miss in this game?
74 mins: Jay Jay Okocha is in the stands for this game, and I doubt he’s been overly impressed, albeit the conditions are making this difficult for the players. Equatorial Guinea make their first double change with a little over 15 minutes left.
67 mins: Yusuf has tried to continue, but he can’t. He’s gone back to the turf with his head in his hands. Two changes incoming for Nigeria: Samuel Chukwueze and Joe Aribo are on for Simon and Yusuf.
66 mins: Owono saves again! Aina takes an excellent first touch to move around Ndong, but his low shot is well blocked by the keeper’s outstretched leg.
61 mins: Yusuf goes to ground after appearing to hurt a left thigh muscle. The stretcher is out, and he’s being carried off. That’s a potentially big blow to Nigeria’s AFCON hopes if he can’t recover quickly.
The first 60 minutes witnessed 2 goals exceeding all of our expectations 🔥
Which team is taking the 3 points home? #NGAGNQ | #TotalEnergiesAFCON2023 pic.twitter.com/XsYbXwX3FU
52 mins: Huge chance for Nigeria! Iwobi releases Zanusi, who has a clear run down the left into the penalty area, but he seems conflicted whether to cross or shoot and in the end bobbles a low effort towards goal that Owono clears with his foot. Lookman collects the rebound and works some space, but his shot is wild.
46 mins: Osimhen races clear and turns under pressure, but Lookman can’t quite return the pass and the ball is in Owono’s hands. That was an opportunity.
We’re back underway for the second half. A few more fans have managed to take their seats, which is a good sight.
That’s that for the first half. Work to do for the Super Eagles.
45 + 3 mins: Great save, Owono! Nigeria’s best passing move of the match sees Osimhen slide the ball to Simon just inside the box to the right, but his low shot towards the near post is pushed behind for a corner. Excellent stop.
44 mins: Osimhen is down after a coming-together with Esteban Orozco Fernandez, but he’s back on his feet after hurting his ankle. We’re heading into four minutes of added time at the end of the half.
38 mins: GOAL! NIGERIA EQUALISE! Straight from the restart, the Super Eagles attack and draw level. Lookman stands up a cross from the left of the penalty area, and Osimhen has a simple task of nodding the ball into the net from barely two yards out. Equatorial Guinea’s lead lasted barely two minutes.
36 mins: GOAL! Equatorial Guinea lead Nigeria! Iwobi and Onyeka leave the ball for one another on the edge of the box, and Basilio Ndong pounces, jinking his way past Iwobi and flicking a pass to Salvador, who passes the ball into the bottom-left corner.
30 mins: Ola Aina digs out a cross from the right that lands right on the head of Osimhen, who can’t direct his header on target.
26 mins: Half a chance for Equatorial Guinea after Nsue’s endeavour forces a corner. The ball drops to Jose Machin, but he can’t bend his shot on target. We’ll now have the first cooling break of the game: despite the cloud cover, it’s still 32 degrees C (89.6 Fahrenheit) out on the pitch.
21 mins: Osimhen races onto a clipped ball over the top from Yusuf, drives into the box, and shoots low with his right foot, drawing a fine save from Owono. The flag is then raised — he was comfortably offside.
16 mins: Nsue chases a long ball into the Nigeria box and has a sight of goal as Semi Ajayi falls over. William Troost-Ekong is across to make a tackle, and the offside flag is up anyway.
10 mins: BIG CHANCE! A low cross from the right evades Owono’s outstretched hand but Zaidu Sanusi can’t control his shot and it flies high and wide.
4 mins: Iwobi pounces on an error at the back and prods the ball to Osimhen, who hits a first-time shot on the turn that flies well over the bar. Bit of a waste, that.
1 min: It looks like Nigeria are starting in a 4-3-3, with Iwobi as part of the midfield trio and Osimhen flanked by Lookman and Simon. With 15 seconds played, Iwobi has the first shot of the match, giving Jesus Owono a comfortable save.
We’re off and running!
10 mins prior to kickoff: The teams are out for the national anthems in front of a pretty sparse-looking crowd. And ‘sparse’ might be a bit kind — the stadium is almost empty.
30 mins prior to kickoff: Nigeria are certainly blessed with options at these finals but it’s perhaps a surprise to see Chukwueze only on the bench. He got two valuable goals in AC Milan’s last two UEFA Champions League group games at the end of 2023, and he would likely have relished the chance to partner Osimhen in attack.
There are starts for Nigeria star striker Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman and Alex Iwobi in what is expected to be a 4-4-2 setup. Samuel Chukwueze is on the bench.
Line Up! #SoarSuperEagles #LetsDoItAgain #TotalEnergiesAfcon2023 #NGAEQG pic.twitter.com/u0WLlTjgk6
Equatorial Guinea are led by experienced wideman Emilio Nsue, who plays his club football these days for Intercity in Spain’s third tier. It’s fair to say the mood in the camp is positive.
Take notes of Equatorial Guinea’s moves! 🕺 🇬🇶#TotalEnergiesAFCON2023 | @NzalangNacional pic.twitter.com/w95t9s1TUM
1 hour 30 mins prior to kickoff: The Ivory Coast kicked off the tournament yesterday with a 2-0 victory over Guinea-Bissau. Nigeria will be expected to follow suit in Group A.
2 hours prior to kickoff: It’s been 11 years since Nigeria became the champions of Africa. Can they get their hands on the trophy again in 2024?
Napolitans trace their King, The African King @victorosimhen9 to Abidjan to give him maximum support at #Afcon2023 🙌#SoarSuperEagles #LetsDoItAgain #afcon2023 pic.twitter.com/XaQWAuWLHU
Nigeria have one of the strongest squads available at AFCON 2023 with an all-star attack featuring Napoli hotshot Victor Osimhen. Bayer Leverkusen’s emerging talent Victor Boniface had to withdraw from the squad at late notice with a muscle problem.
Nigeria lineup (4-3-3, right to left): Nwabili (GK) — Aina, Ajayi, Troost-Ekong, Sanusi — Iwobi, Onyeka, Yusuf — Simon, Osimhen, Lookman.
Nigeria subs: Uzoho, Musa, Aribo, Chukwueze, Osayi-Samuel, Onyemaechi, Iheanacho, Onuachu, Awaziem, Bassey, Omeruo, Onyedika
Equatorial Guinea are expected to battle it out for the third spot in Group A alongside Guinea-Bissau at AFCON 2023.
Equatorial Guinea (4-2-3-1 right to left): Owono (GK) — Akapo, Orozco Fernandez, Coco, Ndong — Bikoro, Ganet — Buyla, Pepin, Salvador — Nsue.
Equatorial Guinea: Senra, Anieboh, Elo, Ondo, Embel, Balboa, Ela, Nlavo, Eneme, Sapunga, Nabil, Siafa
Here’s how to watch this AFCON 2024 match across selected areas of the world’s major regions:
Fubo Canada, beIN Sports Connect, Fanatiz
Joe is Senior Editor (Football) at Sporting News.
