Nigeria survived a tense final minutes against Cape Verde to seal progression to the final qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers after a 1-1 draw at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.

The Super Eagles needed to avoid defeat against Cape Verde to seal their place in the next round and were ahead seconds into the encounter thanks to Victor Osimhen’s fourth goal of the qualifiers.

Cape Verde’s Blue Sharks were not behind for long and hit back five minutes later through Ianique Tavares.

Nigeria fashioned numerous chances to take the lead before the interval but were wasteful in front of goal with Odion Ighalo who was making his first international appearance in two years guilty of a particularly egregious miss.

An even second half grew more frantic towards the end as the visitors desperately sought the goal to upend Nigeria but on the occasion where Gernot Rohr took charge of a record 54th game for Nigeria, his side held on to scrape through to the playoff round.

Nigeria end the group stage with 12 points from six games and will now play one of nine other group winners in a two-legged play off next March for a place at Qatar 2022.