THE Super Eagles ended the group phase of the Morocco 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with a perfect record as they eased past Uganda 3-1 in Fez tonight.
Head coach Eric Chelle made seven changes to the side that beat Tunisia 3-2 on Saturday, with Ryan Alebiosu handed a debut at right-back and the likes of Paul Onuachu, Raphael Onyedika and Igoh Ogbu getting rare starts.
Still, with Victor Osimhen captaining, the Super Eagles were dominant and looked every bit the superior side to the East Africans, who had a player with Nigerian heritage, Uche Ikpeazu, leading their attack.
Incidentally, the Super Eagles’ goals were scored by the fringe stars, with Onuachu opening the scoring and Onyedika bagging a brace.
Moments after a big miss, Onuachu got the Super Eagles in front with a fine finish in the 28th minute.
The Trabzonspor striker stole in between the Uganda centre-backs to stretch his long leg and stab home a low cross from Fisayo Dele-Bashiru.
Uganda then made the task of getting the victory they needed even harder to achieve.
Goalkeeper Jamal Salim, who had replaced the injured Dennis Onyango at the start of the second half, was sent off in the 56th minute for stopping Osimhen’s goal-bound effort with his hand while outside the box.
Onyedika made the Cranes pay for that dismissal as he struck twice in four minutes, first running on to the impressive Samuel Chukwueze’s pass and sweeping the ball between the third-choice Uganda goalkeeper’s legs in the 67th minute.
The Club Brugge midfielder completed his brace by ramming the ball home through Ugandan bodies after a brilliant run and cutback from Chukwueze.
Uganda pulled one back 15 minutes from time through Rogers Mato, who found space in the Super Eagles defence and chipped the advancing Francis Uzoho.
The Super Eagles ended the group stage with nine points, with Tunisia finishing second with four points after drawing 1-1 with Tanzania in Rabat.
Tanzania are third with two points, and Uganda bottom with one.