By Sam Mbonu
It was Tolu Arokodare who came off the bench on his second match for the Super Eagles of Nigeria to score the winning goal for Nigeria against Rwanda in the 51st in the FIFA 2026 World Cup qualifier. A goal mouth scramble and Tolu who replaced injured Victor Osimenh got the final touch to get the ball across the line.
The goal seems to bring temporary ease to Eric Chelle, his technical bench and over millions of Nigerian fans watching. Whenever Rwanda attacks the Eagles, flashback of the draw against Zimbabwe floods their memory because 1-0 lead not enough in the nerve wrecking type of game.
After the Bafana Bafana of South Africa thrashed Lesotho 3-0, it puts the pressure back to Nigeria with 6 points ahead of the chasing pack.
It was a scrappy play for Super Eagles who struggled to find a breakthrough in the game. Rwanda played an organized game, kept it simple caught the Eagles on counterattack but Nigeria kept them at bay.
Galatasaray striker Victor Osimenh put the ball in the net, but it was flagged offside. As the game intensity grew, a strong malicious challenge on Victor Osimenh enraged his teammates, the strong tackle left him brushed and limping, he was eventually subbed out in the 35th minute and was replaced by Cyril Dessers.
On resumption of the 2nd half, Super Eagles manager, Eric Chelle was forced into substitution of Frank Onyeka for Tolu Arokodare who eventually gave Nigeria the lead in the 51 minutes, which later proved to be the winning goal.
The road to FIFA 2026 World Cup is still far for Nigeria but the 1-0 slim win over Rwanda kept their hopes alive as South Africa emphatic 3-0 away win at Lesotho gave them a commanding 6 points lead in group C.
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