Nigeria beat Gabon 4-1 on Thursday in Morocco and advanced to the final of African play-offs for the 2026 Fifa World Cup.
The match which dragged to extra time saw Chidera Ejuke and Victor Osimhen struck in the first period of added time after the match in Rabat had ended 1-1 after 90 minutes.
Osimhen ripped off his protective face mask and shirt to celebrate his goal – no doubt partly in relief after the striker had squandered a glorious chance to win it for the Super Eagles in the 12th minute stoppage time at the end of the game.
The Galatasaray man grabbed his second goal of the evening five minutes after the extra-time break to make sure of victory.
Nigeria, who enjoyed the better of the semi-final tie, had seemed on course to win in regulation time after Akor Adams pounced on a poor back pass to give Eric Chelle’s side the lead in the 78th minute.
But Gabon levelled in the 89th minute through Mario Lemina’s deflected shot to send the game to extra-time, before the Panthers were eventually undone by clinical finishing from their West African rivals.
Nigeria will face either Cameroon or DR Congo in Africa’s play-off final on Sunday (19:00 GMT).
The winners of that match will then progress to a six-team intercontinental qualifier, which will be held in March and will determine the final two qualifiers for next year’s World Cup.
Dele Fashomi, seasoned journalist and communication teacher, is a holder of Master of Arts degree in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan in 1992/93.
Earlier, he had bagged a Bachelor degree from the same university in 1984, after which he proceeded to the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos, in 1990, for a postgraduate diploma in Journalism.
He had done many courses in communication, including the EU-BBC Editing Course in 2002.
Mr. Fashomi combines effectively the practice, research and teaching of communication. And to date, he has published two academic works in communication: Issues in Communication Technology and Policy (2010) and Economic and Social Issues in Advertising and PR (2013).
He had his first break in the Nigerian media in Concord Newspapers in 1990 and today, he has over two and half decades experience earned in several newspapers.
He has been part of many start-ups, such as The Republic (1987), The Comet (1999), The Anchor 2001 – 2002; Sun Newspapers (2003); Westerner newsmagazine (2005 – 2010) as Editor; National Life (2011) as Sunday Editor, and Newswatch Newspapers (2012- 2016) as Daily Editor.
Dele Fashomi is now the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Newstide247.com newspaper online, which he started in July 2015. He is also into biography writing, with many books in his trail, some of which he wrote alone and one he co- authored with his mentor, Mr Dare Babarinsa, entitled: Olabiyi Durojaiye – DARE TO BE DiFFERENT. He also guided and collaborated with Pa Olatunji Odusanya in writing his autobiography – AGAINST ALL ODDS. There are many other books in the works under his pen.
