Cape Verde, CAR Draw in Douala to Leave Room for Eagles’ Ascendancy of Group C
The one-all result posted by Cape Verde and Central African Republic (CAR) in the opening Group C fixture of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying match yesterday afternoon in Douala, Cameroon has opened a leeway for Nigeria’s Super Eagles to take control of the pairing.
The Nigerian senior national team will open their campaign in the race to Qatar 2022 with a home fixture against the Lone Star of Liberia at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos on Friday.
CAR who were the home team played ‘away’ in Douala yesterday due to the political situation of Banjui. And Cape Verde took advantage of the Central Africans not having their fans rooting from the stands, to race to the lead in the 36th minutes when Julio Tavare put the ball beyond goalkeeper Prince Samolah in goal for CAR.
That early strike created anxiety for Nigerians watching the game. They feared that a resolute win for Cape Verde was going to create advantage for the Blue Sharks whom Super Eagles are playing on Tuesday just four days after taking on Liberia.
Nigeria will be heading to the Island nation with an under strength team as all the English Premier League refused any player from the league traveling to any of the countries on UK’s Covid-19 high risk list. Cape Verde is on the list and 10 Nigerian players will not be on the chartered plane to Praia on Tuesday.
Therefore, the possibility of Cape Verde having six points after two games would have loomed large.
However, CAR redeemed the situation by equalizing in the 53rd minute through Tresor Toropite who scored the equaliser in the 53rd minute when his low drive beat goalkeeper Vozinha.
Nigeria will face Liberia in Lagos on Friday and will attempt to leapfrog ahead of the trio of other Group C teams and look forward to consolidate when they face Cape Verde on Tuesday in a potentially explosive encounter.