Nigeria now stand steady in their race to the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations after thrashing Libya 4-0 at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo.
Odion Ighalo scoring three goals, his first hat-trick in the Nigerian colors, before Samuel Kalu scored a beautiful goal to further frustrate the Libyans.
The game began in favor of Nigeria as Libyan goalkeeper Mohamed Abdaula fouled Ighalo, who was making his way to scoring, two minutes into the match. Ighalo stepped up to convert the awarded penalty, giving Nigeria a very early lead.
Nigeria missed many goalscoring chances, leading to the end of the first, and waited for thirteen minutes in the second, before getting their second goal. Alex Iwobi delivered a pass to Ighalo who maintained his composure to dibble the goalkeeper and score his second goal for Nigeria.
The FC Changchun Yatai striker completed his hat-trick ten minutes later after connecting to a cross from Ahmed Musa, found scrabbled the ball past the Libyan defenders and the goalkeeper.
With two minutes to the end of the match, Samuel Kalu got a pass from Henry Onyekuru who had just missed an opportunity to score, and he curled a shot outside the 18-yard box past Mohamed Abdaula.
The Medettarian Knights of Libya, whose coach, Adel Amrouche resigned last week, leaving Omar Al-Marime to take over, will host Nigeria on Tuesday in Sfax, Tunisia. Libya now sit third in the group with four points, as against the Super Eagles in second place with six points after three games.
This article was most recently revised and updated 4 years ago
