Nigeria’s Super Eagles Soar Past Tanzania To Begin 2025 AFCON Quest

Tuesday December 23, 2025
www.thenewsdesk.ng

Nigeria have beaten Tanzania 2-1 in their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations Group C opener in Fes, Morocco, on Tuesday, December 23.

Semi Ajayi headed home Alex Iwobi’s cross on 36 minutes to open the scoring and looked like they had a second, seconds after half-time — only for Victor Osimhen’s effort to be rightly ruled out for offside.

Charles M’Mombwa’s first-time finish (52) then brought Tanzania level, only for Ademola Lookman to restore Nigeria’s lead seconds later with a sharp shot from outside the box.

Despite their failure to qualify for next summer’s World Cup, Nigeria are one of the favourites to lift the trophy and made the perfect start to their tournament.

Everything felt rushed. Instead of moving Tanzania around, they forced play forward or took shots when the opportunity was not there.

Towards the end Tanzanian centre-back Ibrahim Hamad almost scored, skewing a close range effort over the bar.

Nigeria looked shorn of confidence, understandable given their World Cup qualification disappointment, but it is an issue that will need addressing quickly.

After dominating the first hour, Nigeria fell over the line in the end with an unconvincing finish to the game.

Some of that owed to the plucky, determined resistance of a Tanzanian side that refused to fold — but a real nervousness crept into Nigeria’s play after Ademola Lookman gave them a 2-1 lead.

Suddenly, after previously controlling possession, the match turned into an end-to-end affair with Nigeria repeatedly surrendering the ball through careless passes.