Nigeria 1 Libya 0: Dele-Bashiru late goal saves Super Eagles from embarrassing draw

The Super Eagles defeated Libya 1-0 on matchday three of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium on Friday evening.

Austin Eguavoen altered the Super Eagles' shape from 3-4-3 to 4-3-3, and he also made some changes to the starting lineup.

Semi Ajayi was a victim of the structural change as he dropped to the bench, Frank Onyedika was handed his first start of the qualification campaign, Alex Iwobi got the nod ahead of Fisayo Dele-Bashiru and Moses Simon came in for Samuel Chukwueze.

Ten minutes into the game, Ahmed Ekrawa made an ambitious attempt to open the scoring from the Libya half, but his attempt was far away from hitting the target.

The Super Eagles then went on the other end to register their first shot on target with Alex Iwobi forcing Murad Al Wuheeshi to his first save of the game.

Two minutes later,Murad Al Wuheeshi had to make another save to keep the scoreline goalless.

The home side had a penalty call waived by the referee after Lookman was brought down, and the Atalanta forward was presented with a good opportunity to find the back of the net not long after, but he couldn't.

In the 27th minute, Al Wuheeshi did well once again to prevent his goal from being breached, parring Onyeka’s shot away, but the rebound fell to William Troost-Ekong who disappointedly couldn't hit the target.

36 minutes into the game, Simon skillfully flicked the ball past his marker, got into the penalty area, and attempted to find the bottom corner but was denied by Al Wuheesi.

The Libya shot-stopper pulled off another massive save to prevent Iwobi from scoring in the 39th minute. 

Just before the end of the first half, Lookman's cross found Victor Boniface, whose header was blocked.

Five minutes before the hour mark, Ndidi's pass found the run of Onyemaechi, who put a cross into the area for Iwobi, but the Fulham midfielder couldn't hit the target

Iwobi was also presented with another opportunity in the 58th minute when Lookman's headed Onyemaechi's cross towards him but didn't hit the target.

In the 70th minute, Samuel Chukwueze found himself in a goalscoring position, but the brilliant Al Wuheesi denied the AC Milan forward, and the same situation repeated itself some moments later.

Six minutes before stoppage time, Lookman put the ball home, but his goal was ruled out for offside.

In the 86th minute, the Super Eagles found the back of the net through substitute Fisayo Dele-Bashiru with a sublime goal from Moses Simon's pass to eventually clinch the maximum points.

Abdulkareem Abdulhamid 

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