Nigeria suffer defeat in qualifying for the 2026 World Cup while Jordan Ayew hits a hat-trick to inspire a comeback win for Ghana.
Nigeria's 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifying campaign suffered another setback as they lost to Benin, while Jordan Ayew marked his 100th cap with a hat-trick to inspire a 4-3 Ghana victory over Central African Republic.
The Crystal Palace forward netted twice in the second half and the West Africans eventually saw out a win to go top of Group I, with Louis Mafouta’s treble for CAR in vain. First Jodel Dossou caught Calvin Bassey napping and curled across goal to equalise, and then ex-Huddersfield striker Steve Mounie smashed in at the back post after Nigeria failed to deal with a corner from the right.
Two minutes later Ghana were back in front when a shot from Leicester forward Fatawu was deflected in, and Ayew pounced to make it 4-2 from close range after Mohammed Kudus had a low effort saved.
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