{"id":426431,"date":"2017-10-07T19:00:28","date_gmt":"2017-10-07T19:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2017\/10\/07\/nigeria-qualify-for-2018-world-cup-after-win-over-zambia\/"},"modified":"2017-10-07T19:00:28","modified_gmt":"2017-10-07T19:00:28","slug":"nigeria-qualify-for-2018-world-cup-after-win-over-zambia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/10\/07\/nigeria-qualify-for-2018-world-cup-after-win-over-zambia\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria qualify for 2018 World Cup after win over Zambia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"medsection1\">\n<!-- End of html generated by this->header() --><\/p>\n<p class=\"floatLeft\">Sports News of Saturday,  7 October 2017<\/p>\n<p class=\"floatRight\"><strong>Source: <\/strong>bbc.com<\/p>\n<p>2017-10-07<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-left\">\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/57623629.295.jpg\" alt=\"Alex Iwobi2\" title=\"Alex Iwobi2\" width=\"295\" height=\"166\" \/><span class=\"image_caption\"><span>Nigeria become the first African side to qualify for 2018 World Cup<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"noPrint\">\n<div id=\"537626303\" style=\"width:300;height:250;margin:0;padding:0\">\n\t\t  <noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" name=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" src=\"http:\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/afr?auid=537626303&amp;cb=149916385178506\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\"><a href=\"\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/rc?cs=b2ad7fa7fd&amp;cb=149916385178506\">&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/1507402828_0_ai\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/iframe><\/noscript>\n\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"clear:right\">Arsenal&#8217;s Alex Iwobi scored as Nigeria beat a stubborn Zambia 1-0 to become the first African side to seal a place at next year&#8217;s World Cup in Russia.<\/p>\n<p>The win put them on an unassailable 13 points at the top of Group B.<\/p>\n<p>Chances were missed at both ends by the time Shehu Abdullahi provided the cut-back for Iwobi to finish from inside the box in the 73rd minute.<\/p>\n<p>Odion Ighalo, John Mikel Obi, Victor Moses and Moses Simon went close for the Super Eagles but failed to score.<\/p>\n<p>Zambia goalkeeper Kennedy Mwenne produced an acrobatic save to deny Wilfred Ndidi in the second half in a pulsating end-to-end encounter.<\/p>\n<p>Augustine Mulenga thought he had put Zambia ahead in the 22nd minute, but his effort was ruled out for offside.<\/p>\n<p>Fashion Sakala, Alex Ng&#8217;onga and Enock Mwepu had chances for the Chipolopolo but the 2012 African Champions failed to punish a perplexed Super Eagles defence.<\/p>\n<p>But substitute Iwobi, who had scored in the reverse fixture in Ndola last October, finished off a decent attack to send Nigeria to a third straight World Cup appearance.<\/p>\n<p>Moses had a great opportunity to add a second towards the end, but the Chelsea wing-back slipped inside the box.<\/p>\n<p>Nigeria stay top in Group B and advance with one game to spare from a pool that was dubbed the &#8220;Group of Death&#8221; and expected to go down to the wire.<\/p>\n<p>In the other group game, Cameroon beat Algeria 2-0 at home with goals from Clinton Njie and Franck Tchidjui Pangop.<\/p>\n<p>Reigning African champions Cameroon and Algeria\u201a who got to the second round of the last World Cup finals in Brazil\u201a have already been eliminated after disappointing campaigns.<\/p>\n<p><!-- uploaded by: 58 updated by: -1 --><\/p>\n<p><!-- Start of html generated by this->footer() -->\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a style=\"display:none\" rel=\"follow\" href=\"http:\/\/megatheme.ir\/\" title=\"\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633\">\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sports News of Saturday, 7 October 2017 Source: bbc.com 2017-10-07 Nigeria become the first African side to qualify for 2018 World Cup &#13; Arsenal&#8217;s Alex Iwobi scored as Nigeria beat a stubborn Zambia 1-0 to become the first African side to seal a place at next year&#8217;s World Cup in Russia. The win put them [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-426431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nigeria qualify for 2018 World Cup after win over Zambia - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/10\/07\/nigeria-qualify-for-2018-world-cup-after-win-over-zambia\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Nigeria qualify for 2018 World Cup after win over Zambia - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Sports News of Saturday, 7 October 2017 Source: bbc.com 2017-10-07 Nigeria become the first African side to qualify for 2018 World Cup &#013; Arsenal&#8217;s Alex Iwobi scored as Nigeria beat a stubborn Zambia 1-0 to become the first African side to seal a place at next year&#8217;s World Cup in Russia. The win put them [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/57623629.295.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/07\\\/nigeria-qualify-for-2018-world-cup-after-win-over-zambia\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/07\\\/nigeria-qualify-for-2018-world-cup-after-win-over-zambia\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Nigeria qualify for 2018 World Cup after win over Zambia\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-07T19:00:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/07\\\/nigeria-qualify-for-2018-world-cup-after-win-over-zambia\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":313,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/07\\\/nigeria-qualify-for-2018-world-cup-after-win-over-zambia\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ghanamma.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/57623629.295.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/07\\\/nigeria-qualify-for-2018-world-cup-after-win-over-zambia\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/07\\\/nigeria-qualify-for-2018-world-cup-after-win-over-zambia\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/07\\\/nigeria-qualify-for-2018-world-cup-after-win-over-zambia\\\/\",\"name\":\"Nigeria qualify for 2018 World Cup after win over Zambia - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/07\\\/nigeria-qualify-for-2018-world-cup-after-win-over-zambia\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/07\\\/nigeria-qualify-for-2018-world-cup-after-win-over-zambia\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ghanamma.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/57623629.295.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-07T19:00:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/07\\\/nigeria-qualify-for-2018-world-cup-after-win-over-zambia\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/07\\\/nigeria-qualify-for-2018-world-cup-after-win-over-zambia\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ghanamma.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/57623629.295.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ghanamma.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/57623629.295.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nigeria qualify for 2018 World Cup after win over Zambia - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/10\/07\/nigeria-qualify-for-2018-world-cup-after-win-over-zambia\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Nigeria qualify for 2018 World Cup after win over Zambia - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Sports News of Saturday, 7 October 2017 Source: bbc.com 2017-10-07 Nigeria become the first African side to qualify for 2018 World Cup &#13; Arsenal&#8217;s Alex Iwobi scored as Nigeria beat a stubborn Zambia 1-0 to become the first African side to seal a place at next year&#8217;s World Cup in Russia. 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