Onuachu’s early strike stuns Egypt

Paul Onuachu scored a spectacular winner as Nigeria defeated Egypt 1-0 to start their 2019 Africa Cup of Nations Cup on a positive note at the Stephen Keshi Stadium on Tuesday.

It took only 10 seconds of play for the FC Midtjylland forward to score what would be the matchwinner against Javier Aguirre’s men – hosts of the Afcon finals in June.

Leon Balogun and John Ogu were the only changes in the defence and midfield respectively from Seychelles win. In attack, Onuachu was handed his full debut and Moses Simon returned to start a Nigeria game after almost two years [against Zambia in October 2017] on the fringes. Henry Onyekuru completed the attacking trident as Daniel Akpeyi led from the back.

Nigeria U23 hat-trick hero Victor Osimhen returned to the bench after Wednesday’s heroic against Libya U-23.

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 Aguirre handed starts to both Mohamed Elneny and Mahmoud Trezeguet after the duo were left out of an inexperienced starting XI in their final Afcon qualifier win over Niger.

Egypt National Team assistant coach Michel Salgado has said the friendly game against Nigeria was a tough challenge for the Pharaohs as they prepare for the Africa Cup of Nations.

”Nigeria are one of the strongest African teams, and they are favourites to go far in the Africa Cup of Nations,” Salgado, the former Real Madrid defender said.

We have tried around 40 players during our time with the Egyptian National Team, a player like Amar Hamdy is considered a huge positive for us with the way he performed against Niger.”