AFCON 2023 ; Nigeria Super Eagles held 1-1 by reselient Equitorial Guinea

Ebimpe, 

Sunday, 14 January, 2024 

McCreadie Andias 

Nigeria Super Eagles were held to a 1-1 draw in their African cup of Nations (AFCON) group A encounter against Equitorial Guinea on Sunday at the Olympic Stadium of Ebimpé.

Nigeria went into the match without services of Key players including on form Victor Boniface, Kelechi ihenacho and Antwoyini. 

A confident Equatorial Guinea took the lead in the 36th minute, as Iván Salvador exquisitely guided the ball into the bottom corner as he rushed away in celebration. 

However , it took only two minutes for 2023 African men's player of the year Victor Ohsimen to announce his presence on the pitch with a well-crafted equaliser to put the scores 1-1 into the half time. 

Nigeria continued to knock inside the second half with Equitorial Guinea's goalkeeper Jesús Owono denying respective one-on-one efforts from Sanusi and then Osimhen from finding the back of the net.

Owono once again came in handy into thr final 20 minutes, as he kept out Ola Aina’s single-handed strike with a smart save.

Nigeria were running out of hopes into the dying minutes of the match as they launched more attacks and would have escaped a draw if Ohsimen would have sent his last minute strike on Target. 

The draw means Equatorial Guinea extend their undefeated run across all competitions to 11 matches as they also earn their first-ever point against Nigeria in an international tournament.

Meanwhile, the Super Eagles will surely want to bounce back against hosts Ivory Coast on Thursday – with the Elephants already sitting atop of Group A after beating Guinea Bissau on Saturday.