Nigeria's AFCON hopes take setback as Guinea-Bissau inflict historic defeat

[p]Goals from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/franculino/KKFRVszn/"]Franculino Dju[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/balde-mama/2c931iLK/"]Mama Balde[/a] and Alvaro Djalo handed the Djurtus their [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/guinea-bissau-0rJs9H8F/nigeria-EBE2Xb3l/?mid=hWcNCsn9"]biggest victory[/a] over the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/nigeria/EBE2Xb3l/"]Super Eagles[/a] and strengthened their position at the top of Group L.[/p][embed guid="c5a25791-4bf4-4219-87a3-b63cf55556d0" url="https://x.com/NGSuperEagles/status/2104995142944125184" social-type="twitter" /][p]Coach [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/chelle-eric/vFeFaT0s/"]Eric Chelle[/a] made three changes to his starting line-up, introducing Bright Osayi-Samuel, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/onyeka-ogochukwu/trmcDRt1/"]Frank Onyeka[/a] and Taiwo Awoniyi.[/p][p]The three-time African champions nearly made the perfect start when Ademola Lookman connected with Alex Iwobi's pass in the 14th minute, but his left-footed effort was saved.[/p][p]However, the hosts struck just a minute later after Franculino collected possession on the left, cut inside and curled a fine effort beyond Stanley Nwabali.[/p][p]Onyeka subsequently hit the side netting as Nigeria searched for an equaliser, while Nwabali denied Beto shortly before half-time.[/p][p]Chelle introduced Moses Usor and Moses Simon at the interval, replacing Onyeka and Awoniyi to revive Super Eagles’ attack.[/p][p]Both substitutes had opportunities to restore parity, but their efforts were comfortably saved.[/p][p]Guinea-Bissau punished the visitors’ wastefulness in the 66th minute when Balde beat Osayi-Samuel to double the hosts' advantage.[/p][p]Tolu Arokodare and George Ilenikhena subsequently squandered opportunities to reduce the deficit before Djalo completed the rout in the fifth minute of stoppage time.[/p][p]The defeat was Nigeria's first against African opposition by a three-goal margin since their 5-1 loss to Algeria at the 1990 AFCON.[/p][p]It also revived memories of September 2014, when Congo stunned the Super Eagles 3-2 at home in an AFCON qualifier. Nigeria subsequently failed to qualify for the 2015 tournament.[/p][embed guid="e1794a1f-8ab4-4a7d-b3f4-97531a744cb3" url="https://x.com/sportingshina/status/2104998054629621763" social-type="twitter" /][p]Guinea-Bissau now lead Group L with six points and a goal difference of +5, while Nigeria remain second with three points and a -2 goal difference. [/p][p]With [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/tanzania/KzAbFwJ7/"]Tanzania[/a] already guaranteed a place at the tournament as co-hosts, the Super Eagles face a difficult battle with the Djurtus and the Barea for the group's remaining qualification spot.[/p]