- Boost last 16 qualification
- Equatorial Guinea beat Guinea Bissau 4-2
BY VICTOR OSOWOCHI – A 55th minute penalty by William Troost-Ekong is all the Super Eagles of Nigeria needed to secure victory and shock AFCON hosts, the Elephants of Ivory Coast in their Match day two Group A encounter.
Really needing to put their AFCON campaign back on track as one of the tournament’s favourites, Nigeria dug deep and held on to beat the Ivorians 1-0 in the fiercely contested tie.
After playing out an entertaining first half, both sides resumed the second 45 minutes looking to break the deadlock and when Troost-Ekong eventually converted penalty early in the half, the Elephants and their vociferous home crowd were left to rue their missed chances and mull the devastating blow inflicted on them by the Nigerians.
It was Napoli’s point man, Victor Osimhen who saw the game’s first real chance when he found himself in a good position but failed to hit the target for the Super Eagles.
The Ivorians quickly responded with a promising attack of their own but Keeper Stanley Nwabili kept the Eagles unblemished when pulling off a decent save.
From then onwards, it was an end to end display by both countries with AC Milan forward, Samuel Chukwueze’s low effort failing to cause any trouble for the host nation.
Another strong chance came begging for the Elephants about 15 minutes into play when Christian Kouame after playing the ball back to Evan Ndicka in a good position in the box, saw Nigeria’s goaltender Nwabili up to the task in denying them a chance to open scoring.
Getting off to a strong start in the second half, the Super Eagles’ persistence paid off when Ousmane Diomande kicked Osimhen in the back of the leg as both challenged for the ball, giving away a penalty in the process.
Interestingly, defender William Troost-Ekong, who stepped up to take the resultant penalty made no mistake as he sent a pile driver straight down the middle with the Ivorian keeper left stranded while diving in the wrong direction.
Just as in the first-half, Cote d’Ivoire controlled proceedings by keeping the ball mostly all through in the second. However, they still struggled to create clear chances with their lack of creativity and potency in front of goal proving costly.
With this result, Nigeria moved up to second position on the Group table having the same four point as leaders, Equatorial Guinea who earlier in the day beat Guinea Bissau 4-2 while the Ivorians now occupy the third spot.
Given his impressive showing, the Super Eagles’ goalkeeper Nwabili emerged the Most Valuable Player (MVP) on the night, pulling off three important saves in the first 45 minutes to keep his team in the match. The 27-year-old goaltender, who plies his trade in South Africa, also gave a good account of himself in the second as he rushed out on one occasion to kill off an Ivorian attack that ultimately protected the Eagles’ narrow lead.
Next on the card for both nations in the last Group stage games where Cote d’Ivoire will take on leaders Equatorial Guinea on January 22, while Nigeria seek to sweep aside the challenge from Guinea-Bissau currently bottom of the table after two defeats.
