The super Eagles captain, Ahmed Musa has declared the Nigeria will come back stronger in Freetown on Tuesday ahead of the return leg of Super eagles vs leone Stars clash.
The Eagles had, as expected, bossed the first half hour to an almost –embarrassing degree, with a brace from Alex Iwobi and one each from Victor Osimhen and Samuel Chukwueze putting daylight between the hosts and their visitors. But the gap was astonishingly erased as, gradually, the Leone Stars started to show radiance slowly but surely, first capitalising on a mistake by Samuel Chukwueze to split the Eagles’ defence and free Kwame Quee to fire past Maduka Okoye in the 41st minute.
Chukwueze rocked the Leone Stars’ upright from an Ahmed Musa free kick in the 47th minute, but after that, it was the visitors all the way. Coach John Keister brought in Rodney Strasser and Alhaji Kamara to take the places of Alie Sesay and John Kamara, and that move proved magical.
Alhaji Kamara rose highest in the Eagles’ defence to nod powerfully past Okoye for the Leone Stars’ second in the 72nd minute. The emphatic manner of that goal and the bold statement of intent was lost on the Eagles, who continued to show a lack of spirit and move the ball backward rather than forward.
Seeing an opening to create a sensation, Keister made more changes, bringing in Mustapha Bundu and Osman Kakay. These changes further revved the Leone Stars’ engine. Eight minutes after netting the second, Alhaji Kamara, after collecting the ball from the fast –paced Bundu who ran down the Nigerian right wing, slammed a fierce grounder past Okoye for Sierra Leone’s third.
Ahmed Musa apologises to Nigerians for the poor ending to the game today: “This has been a real shocker. I want to, on behalf of the entire team, apologise to the generality of Nigerians for this poor result. We will go to Freetown and do the needful.” he said
Meanwhile, Nigeria conceded four plus goals at home for the first time since December 13, 1959 in an Olympic qualifier in Lagos.
