Super Eagles of Nigeria on Saturday overcame hard-fighting Chipolopolo of Zambia to book a ticket to the the 2018 World Cup tournament billed for Russia.
A goal scored being Nigerian youngstar Alex Iwobi mid way into the second half did the magic for Nigerian team, which had wasted many scoring chances.
The Zambian team, made up largely by players in the local league,stretched the Nigerians to the limit in the game played at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state capital with the first half going goalless.
The first half belonged to the Chipolopolo in terms of goal scoring chances, as they troubled the the Super Eagles with their pace in attack.
Iwobi finished off a fine move down the right, following nice combination play between Victor Moses and Shehu Abdullahi.
Nigeria now have 13 points at the top of Group and an unassailable six-point lead ahead of Zambia, with one round of games left.
They join other countries like Brazil, Spain, Mexico, England, Germany, Iran, South Korea, etc. who have also booked their places at next year’s tournament.
The Zambians who came close to scoring in the game would be ruing their luck as they had a goal scored in the first ruled offside.