November 15, (THEWILL) – finished their qualification campaign for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup with a flourish as they thrashed Djibouti 7-2 in Niamey on Monday.
The win took Niger to seven points in Group A, though both teams were out of the contest for playoffs.
Adebayor Zakari Adje scored a hattrick, while Ibrahim Issa added a late brace. Amadou Wonkoye and Daniel Sosah scored one each to bring the tally to seven. Djibouti’s consolation goals came from Youssouf Ahmed and Siad Yabe.
With a straightforward side foot finish, Adebayor broke the deadlock in the 14th minute to open the floodgates. In the 33rd minute, Ahmed equalised for Djibouti, giving them hope of a surprise victory.
The comfort of drawing level was short-lived as Adebayor added the second with a beautiful volley off an Ibrahim Abdoul Aziz pass. However, when Mahdi Mahabeh beat the keeper in the 59th minute, Youssef Oumarou of Niger was at hand to clear the ball off the line.
Niger scored their third goal two minutes into the second half, with Wonkoye scoring a well-taken long-range strike. After the keeper mishandled an Adebayor attempt, Sosah won the rebound and fired in to make it 4-1.
With a curling strike in the 75th minute, Adebayor completed his hat trick. But, Djibouti rallied to make the score 5-2 in the 84th minute when Yabe slipped the ball past the Niger keeper, Naim Van Attenhoven.
That goal appeared to make Djibouti complacent as Niger scored twice in quick succession to finish off the tie as a contest. Issa tapped in a rebound in the 86th minute and a cracking shot a minute later put the game out of reach.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
