Iheanacho with the double as Super Eagles beat Liberia in World Cup qualifier

Leicester City forward Kelechi Iheanacho scored twice as Nigeria beat Liberia 2-0 in Lagos on Friday to go top of an African World Cup qualifying group.

He struck after 21 and 45 minutes for a nation that has competed at six of the last seven World Cup tournaments, without ever getting past the second round.

Both goals in the Nigerian economic capital were set up by another English Premier League star, Everton midfielder Alex Iwobi.

Nigeria was among the luckier teams in the African group draw, being paired with Cape Verde, the Central African Republic, and Liberia.

Only Cape Verde, who drew away to the Central African Republic two days ago and host Nigeria on Tuesday, are expected to mount a serious challenge to the three-time African champions in Group C.

Iheanacho and eight other Britain-based Nigerians cannot travel to Cape Verde because the island state is on the United Kingdom coronavirus “red list”.

Any footballer returning to Britain from a red-listed country must quarantine for 10 days, and Premier League and Football League players have been barred from visiting such nations.

Germany-born Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr insists all three rivals are “tricky opponents who we have got to be at our best against”.

“The job has been done,” he said, referring to the win over Liberia. “We had to win our first game at home and we did not concede a goal.

“We will be without nine players (in Cape Verde) — that means it will be another team and it is not easy to build a new team within days.

“We will also play on a synthetic pitch. This will be a challenge. It will be more difficult than against Liberia.”