Three Napoli players were in action on Sunday: Victor Osimhen; Jesper Lindstrøm and Piotr Zielinski.
Three More for Victor
Victor Osimhen played the full 90 minutes, scoring a hat trick in Nigeria’s 6-0 victory over São Tomé and Príncipe in AFCON Group A Qualifying. Bottom-of-the-table São Tomé and Príncipe were simply no match for the home side, who were already guaranteed to finish top of the group.
Wearing the captain’s armband, Osimhen opened the scoring in the 13th minute from a Nigeria corner kick. The Napoli striker was gifted a free header in front of the goal after São Tomé and Príncipe goalkeeper Ronaldo Silva completely misread the flight of Ademola Lookman’s cross. Osimhen made no mistake, heading the ball down and into the back of the goal.
The Nigeria No. 9 thought he added an assist at the half-hour mark, picking out the run of Kelechi Iheanacho with a clever back-heel flick. However, the Leicester City player was a fraction offside and the goal was chalked off.
In the 69th minute, with Nigeria already leading 3-0, Wilfred Ndidi played a perfectly-weighted through-ball to Osimhen in the area. With the keeper challenging, the Napoli forward took a smart touch away from the goal, drawing contact before going to ground. As a result, Nigeria were awarded a penalty kick. Osimhen stepped up to the spot and sent the keeper the other way, scoring in the opposite corner compared the penalty kick he converted against Sassuolo in Serie A.
The reigning Serie A Capocannoniere completed his hat trick in the 80th minute after an exchange of quick passes between Ndidi, Victor Boniface and Samuel Chukwueze. The Milan winger, who would later score Nigeria’s sixth goal, slipped the ball to Osimhen in the area and he calmly rolled the ball past Silva to score his third of the match.
With the win, Nigeria ended the qualification stage with 15 of a possible 18 points.
Left and Out
Jesper Lindstrøm played the opening 45 minutes in Demark’s 0-1 victory over Finland in UEFA Euro 2024 Group H Qualifying. Neither side created many scoring opportunities in the first half, but Lindstrøm was one of Denmark’s biggest threats.
Though he lined up on the left wing in Kasper Hjulmand’s 4-2-3-1 formation, the former Eintracht Frankfurt player was given a licence to roam. In the 15th minute, he popped up on the right side of the midfield and generated one of Denmark’s best scoring chances of the half. Lindstrøm received the pass from Andreas Olsen, took two touches towards the top of the box and let fly, but Finland goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky did well to tip the shot over the bar.
The Denmark winger looked threatening again minutes before the break. However, after a lovely exchange of passes with Christian Nörgaard and Jonas Wind, Lindstrøm was unable to dribble through a crowd of Finnish defenders before Jere Uronen cleared the danger.
Lindstrøm was replaced by ex-Atalanta player Rasmus Hojlund at the start of the first half.
Rare Off-Day
Piotr Zielinski played the full 90 minutes in Poland’s 2-0 defeat to Albania in UEFA Euro 2024 Group E Qualifying. After playing as a No. 10 against the Faroe Islands, Zielinski lined up in the centre of Fernado Santos’ 4-4-2 formation against Albania.
Though he generated Poland’s only shot on target in the match, Zielinski was uncharacteristically quiet against Albania. In the 8th minute, the Napoli midfielder was allowed to wander unmarked into the left side of the area. Ex-Spezia player Jakub Kiwior spotted the run and played a diagonal through ball into the area. Zielinski turned quickly and fired on target with his left boot, but ex-Lazio goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha was well-positioned to make the save.
Other than the one shot attempt, Zielinski struggled to get involved in the match as his Poland team struggled to deal with the intensity of Albania, fueled by a raucous crowd at the Air Albania Stadium in Tirana.
