The heavy downpour on Friday failed to dampen the enthusiasm of local football fans and supporters alike as a sizable crowd turned out to witness the Super Eagles of Nigeria kick-start their Qatar 2022 World Cup campaign on a winning note with a 2-0 thrashing of their Liberian counterparts.
The match, played at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, had been threatened as it had been raining in Lagos all week and the scenario looked bleak as the heavens opened up very early on Friday morning with the rains pouring down unabated, all day.
The fans however could not be deterred as the maximum 5,000 spectatorship was achieved, even before the kickoff with the Super Eagles supporters Club singing and drumming from kick-off to full time.
The Super Eagles got into full gear from the blast of the referees’ whistle dominating play and making dangerous incursions into the opposing area and it finally paid off in the 22nd minute as Kelechi Iheanacho’s shot off a corner kick lay-off by Alex Iwobi caught the Liberian goalkeeper napping.
The 2nd goal soon came in the 44th minute as Leicester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho, once again, slotted the ball into the net off a sharp turn in the opposing 18, a move which left the Liberian goalkeeper stranded.
The 2nd half was a ding-dong affair but the Eagles, despite not finding the net, had just done enough with the two strikes in the first half.
The next stop is an away tie to Cape Verde on the 6th of September.
The next World cup comes up in Qatar, in 2022.
