NIGERIA’S senior men’s national football team, Super Eagles, have secured a qualification ticket to participate in the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON in Cote d’Iviore after walloping SAO Tome and Principe 6-0 on Sunday.

Although the Super Eagles’ final group match against SAO Tome and Principe at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, had been proven to be a dead rubber match, they needed it to finish at the top of group A.

The three-time African champions achieved their aim of finishing atop the team after the array of strikers assembled for Sunday’s game proved their competence.

The match witnessed Napoli’s Victor Osimhen netting a hattrick after he gave the team the lead in the 13th minute, converted a spot kick in the 70th and raced to Samuel Chukwueze’s pass in the 79th minute, bringing his goal tally to ten in the six qualifying matches.

Also, Ademola Lookman’s superb finish in the 27th minute, Nottingham Forest of England striker Taiwo Awoniyi’s acrobatic kick in the 51st minute, and Samuel’s Chukwueze goal gave the star-studded Eagles the needed victory.

The victory helped the team to emerge as Group A leaders with 15 points from six matches and 22 goals, while Guinea Bissau is second with 10 points, with a game in hand against Sierra Leone on Monday.

The ICIR reports that out of the six qualifying matches played, the Super Eagles lost only one match to Sierra Leone, 1-2, won five, and conceded four goals with an 18-goal difference. They also emerged as the only African country with the highest goals in the qualifying edition.