The Super Eagles of Nigeria thrashed The Falcons and The True Parrots of Sao Tom and Principe by 10 goals to nothing at the Stade Adrar in Agadir, Morocco as they continue their charge towards the 2023 African Cup of Nations.
That was the biggest victory for the Super Eagles since they beat Benin Republic, who went by Dahomey at the time, 10-1 in 1959.
The match as it happened
Sao Tome came into the game hopeful for some succour after a 5 – 1 thrashing from Guniea Bissau in their first qualifier game. Nigeria, meanwhile, came with a point to prove after they struggled to beat Sierra Leone on home soil thanks to the poor state of the Moshood Abiola Stadium pitch.
The Super Eagles were more threatening from the start and it took only nine minutes to open the scoring. Moses Simon’s brilliant cross was met by the head of Victor Osimhen who powered home past a helpless Anastacio Braganca in goal for Sao Tome.
Osimhen’s offside malaise continued denying Nigeria more goals in the next few minutes, but they got the ball in the back of the net again in the 28th minute. This time, the roles were reversed as Simon got on the end of an Osimhen square ball to tap in from close range and make it 2 – 0.
Nigeria were not done with the half as Terem Moffi put the ball in the net again two minutes from time. A brilliant through ball after some impressive work from Osimhen released the Lorient striker, who placed the ball in the bottom left corner of the net for the Super Eagles’ third goal.
The second half began like the first and within three minutes, Osimhen got the second of his four goals on the afternoon to make it 4 – 0. Oghenekaro Etebo scored the fifth goal in the 55th minute, which was the official signal to the rest of the team.
Five more goals followed with Moffi getting his second in the 60th minute, and Osimhen getting two more goals after to make it 8 – 0. Ademola Lookman got in on the act with his first goal for the Super Eagles to make it nine, before Emmanuel Dennis won and converted a penalty in added time to make it 10 – 0.
Osimhen moves past Kanu and Okocha with four goals against Sao Tome
Napoli striker Osimhen was the man of the afternoon with his four goals and two assists. He took his international goals tally up to 14 to become the fastest player to that number since Nigeria’s leading goalscorer, the late great Rashidi Yekini.
He also moved past Super Eagles greats Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha and Kanu Nwankwo on the list of all-time goalscorers for Nigeria.
This article was most recently revised and updated 1 year ago
