Cheetahs of Benin beat Eagles 2-1 in Cote D'voire

Posted : 10 June 2024

You can now watch all NPFL matches Live: https://www.africasport.net/npfl/home/

The Cheetahs of Benin Republic stunned the Super Eagles of Nigeria with a 2-1 victory in the Group C World Cup qualifier on Monday night at the Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Abidjan.

Nigeria possessed a bundle of talents but played individual football with a lack of communication. Raphael Onyedika of Club Brugge scored the first goal of the match for Nigeria from a Chukwueze pass in the box, sold a dummy to a defender, and slotted the ball to the left side of the net in the 28th minute.

On the other hand, the Cheetahs of Benin Republic rallied round and played more as a team, especially in defense, warding off the forays of the Nigerian attack and getting the ball upfront.

Not too long to celebrate, the Super Eagles conceded two goals in the same first half from Jodel Dossou of Sochaux, who capitalized on a defensive blunder to beat Nwabali in the 37th minute. In almost quick succession, Brest FC Captain, Steve Mounie, scored the second goal in the 45+3 minutes of the first half.

The loss to the Cheetahs of Benin Republic was an embarrassing moment for Nigerians at the stadium who hung their musical instruments in disbelief of the eventual scoreline.

As the table stands now, Benin Republic tops the group table with the most captivating victory they ever had with 7 points; Lesotho is 2nd with 5 points; Rwanda and South Africa have 4 points each, leaving Nigeria at the 5th spot with 3 points and Zimbabwe at the bottom with 2 points, though other teams have yet to play their 4th matches like Nigeria.

Nigeria knew they have to defeat Benin Republic or let the thoughts of qualifying for the World Cup finals perish in their minds.

Their former Coach, Gernot Rohr, who qualified them for the 2018 World Cup and two AFCON tournaments, believes that Nigeria will still qualify from the group but had expressed intention to defeat Nigeria in Abidjan.

Benin Republic had, on 18th November 2023, lost 1-2 to South Africa in the qualifier series; played goalless with Lesotho on 21st November 2023 before shocking Rwanda in a lone goal victory. In between, the Cheetahs, which are their new nickname now as they were formerly Squirrels, had played 2-2 with Ivory Coast on 24th March 2024 and lost 0-1 to Senegal on 27th March 2024, both in friendly matches.

Nigeria has become draw specialists having played and drawn 1-1 in Uyo last Friday in all the three World Cup qualifier matches played. Recall that Nigeria played 1-1 with South Africa in the semifinal of the last African Cup of Nations on 8th February 2024 before moving on in penalty victory to lose to Ivory Coast in the final on 12th February 2024.

There were two friendly matches, a 2-1 victory over Ghana on 23rd March 2024 and an 0-2 loss to Mali on 27th March 2024.

In modern times, there were 9 matches between both countries, 8 won by Nigeria, one victory to Benin, and a draw.

The modern highest victory Nigeria had was a friendly match played on 9th April 2017 that ended 4-0; there were also two Nations Cup matches on 13th August 2017 that Benin won 1-0 at home and the return match on 19th August 2017 was Nigeria 2-0.

There was also a WAFU match on 21st September 2017, which Nigeria won by a lone goal, and then two AFON matches, one on 14th November 2019, Nigeria won 2-1 and that of 28th March 2021 In Benin Republic Nigeria won by a lone goal.

The then Dahomey’s first International match was on 8th November 1959, ended in a lone goal victory to Nigeria but while the nation was still an annex of France at that time, Nigeria walloped Dahomey 10-1 on 28th November 1959.

Benin Republic, ranked 97 in the world, has yet to qualify for the World Cup finals.

The country has appeared 4 times at AFCON finals but their best result was a quarterfinal at Egypt 2019 when Nigeria’s Odion Ighalo emerged as the highest Scorer with 5 goals. Benin had played 1-1 on 5th July with Morocco but won on penalties 1-4 in R16 only to bow on 10th July to Senegal in Cairo 1-0.

Nigeria, ranked 30 in the world, appeared at the World Cup 6 times and was always stopped in the round of 16 in 1994, 1998, and 2014. Appeared 20 times at AFCON and were champions in 1980, 1994, and 2013. Appeared at the Nations Cup 3 times and were Runners-up 2018.

Benin Republic has outstanding World Cup matches away to Zimbabwe on 18th March 2025 and then plays at home against South Africa on 25th March 2025; plays at home again to Zimbabwe on 2nd September 2025 and the final qualifier match on 9th September 2025 at home to Lesotho.

Nigeria’s outstanding matches are away to Rwanda on 18th March 2025; Home to Zimbabwe on 25th March 2025; Home to Rwanda on 2nd September 2025 and lastly away to South Africa on 9th September 2025.

Cheetahs of Benin beat Eagles 2-1 in Cote D'voire

ADD A COMMENT :

Hot Topics