WED DEC 24 2025-theGBJournal| Nigeria Super Eagles opened their TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 campaign with a hard-earned 2–1 victory over Tanzania on Tuesday evening, as Ademola Lookman struck the winner barely a minute after the Taifa Stars had drawn level.
The Super Eagles had controlled much of the first half and were rewarded nine minutes before the interval when Semi Ajayi rose highest to power home a header from an Alex Iwobi delivery. The corner had been won moments earlier after Tanzanian defender Bakari Mwamnyeto cleared Victor Osimhen’s close-range effort off the line.
That goal reflected Nigeria’s growing authority, with Osimhen, Lookman and Moses Simon stretching the Tanzanian back line through pace and movement. Despite that dominance, the Super Eagles were unable to extend their lead before the break and went into half-time just one goal ahead.
The second half exploded into life almost immediately. Nigeria thought they had doubled their advantage inside the opening minute when Osimhen backheeled into the net, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside following a VAR check.
Tanzania seized the momentum moments later. A perfectly weighted pass from Novatus Dismas split the defence, allowing Charles M’Mbowa to burst through and slide a composed finish past Stanley Nwabali to bring the scores level.
Any belief Tanzania had of building on that equaliser was short-lived. Within sixty seconds, Lookman produced a moment of class, curling an unstoppable effort from the edge of the area beyond the reach of the goalkeeper to restore Nigeria’s lead and silence the Tanzanian celebrations.
From there, Nigeria managed the contest with maturity, keeping possession and limiting clear chances. Tanzania pushed for a late equaliser and came close in the closing minutes when Ibrahim Hamad volleyed wide from a corner, but the Super Eagles held firm to see out the victory.
Reactions:
Semi Ajayi – TotalEnergies Man of the Match : “It’s an amazing feeling to score for your country and in such a game it gives us the possibility of getting a good start. We had an amazing tournament in Cote D’Ivoire and we are using that as a standard.
We are a team we don’t need to get goals onlyfrom the attackers and it’s pleasing to contribute to the success of the team. There are a lot of positives to take from the game and some things to fix and we will work on that to kill games going forward.”
Eric Chelle Nigeria coach: “We are satisfied with the three points. That is the most important. For the moment, I want to focus on the positives. The second part of the game shows clearly that there is still some work to be done — especially when it comes to killing the game. We are aware of this, and we will work on it.
Tanzania coach Miguel Ángel Gamondi: “I think Tanzania played better than many people expected. Nigeria had a lot of possession, but we neutralised them well through our tactical system. They did create chances, but most of them came from individual quality — which is not surprising. Overall, I believe we surprised a lot of people with the quality of our performance against Nigeria today.”-With CAF news
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