Osimhen’s brace secures Nigeria’s first win of 2026 World Cup qualifiers

March 21, 2025 7:04 pm

VictorOsimhen (left) celebrates one of his goals against Rwanda PhotoCredit: PoojaMedia

Victor Osimhen scored a first-half brace to lead the Super Eagles to a 2-0 victory over the Wasps of Rwanda in their FIFA World Cup 2026 Group C encounter at the Amahoro stadium in Kigali on Friday evening.

The Galatasaray striker’s brace is his 24th and 25th international goal for Nigeria. He secured the Super Eagles’ first win in the World Cup qualifier series, reigniting the country’s chance of possible qualification.

Eric Chelle began his reign with a setup reminiscent of a glorious past, with the quartet of Osimhen, Ademola Lookman, Moses Simon and Samuel Chukwueze all in attack, supported by Alex Iwobi.

The attacking line-up paid early dividends, with the opener in the 11th minute through Osimhen.

The former Napoli striker continued his scoring form in Kigali, getting on the end of Lookman’s free-kick at the back post to slot home for 1-0 to Nigeria.

The Super Eagles continued to look impressive in attack, creating more chances, but William Troost-Ekong could not capitalise on two occasions, blazing wide before his header went narrowly wide minutes later.

Simon thought he had doubled Nigeria’s advantage, but his deflected shot was tipped over for a corner-kick by Fiacre Ntwari, Rwanda’s goalkeeper.

Rwanda eventually settled into the game and had their first opportunity in the 39th minute through Gilber Mugisha’s long-range strike but it was comfortably dealt with by Stanley Nwabali.

The hosts continued to threaten, but Nigeria doubled their advantage against the run of play through Osimhen, who also completed his brace.

The 26-year-old nicked in front of a defender to claim Bright Osayi-Samuel’s header on the halfway line before running into the box, where he lifted a chipped finish over the goalkeeper and into the net to give the Super Eagles a deserved 2-0 lead going into the halftime break.

Rwanda looked to reduce the deficit after the break quickly, but a combination of last-gasp clearances, calm goalkeeping from Nwabali, and poor coordination in attack prevented the home side from making the most of the forays into attack.

Nigeria saw out the remainder of the encounter effectively to hand Eric Chelle a win in his first match as Nigeria’s coach.

Victory is also Nigeria’s first-ever win away at Rwanda and is also revenge for a surprise 2-1 loss to the Wasps in the African Nations Cup qualifiers at the Godswill Akpabio stadium last year.

The Super Eagles’ victory moved Nigeria to fourth position in Group C with six points from five matches. They next face Zimbabwe at the Godswill Akpabio stadium on March 25.

GROUP C STANDINGS AFTER FIVE GAMES