By Mark Ogagan
Nigeria’s Super Eagles issued a strong statement on Thursday when they inflicted a major blow on hosts Cote d’Ivoire to seal a crucial 1-0 victory at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Ivorian fans were silenced when Nigeria Captain William Troost-Ekong (Pictured) converted a 54th-minute penalty after Victor Osimhen was fouled in the box by centre back Ousmane Diomande.
In front of a packed Stade Alassane Ouattara in Abidjan, the two African heavyweights served up a pulsating contest. Despite relentless roars of support, the Elephants could not find an equaliser as the Super Eagles held on for a famous victory.
Nigeria goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali pulled off three important saves in the first 45 minutes to keep his team in the match and was strong in the second, too, rushing out in a daring decision to kill off an Ivorian attack and protect his team’s lead. An impressive display from the 27-year-old who was making his fourth full debut for Nigeria.
The Super Eagles managed the closing stages expertly to condemn the stunned Elephants to their first defeat.
The Super Eagles stood tall in the face of intense Ivorian pressure to land a psychological blow on one of Africa’s proudest footballing nations.
The result lifted Nigeria level on four points with surprise package Equatorial Guinea, who defeated Guinea-Bissau 4-2 in the other Group A match thanks to Emilio Nsue’s hat trick, at the summit.
Cote d’Ivoire remain third on three points and likely need to beat Equatorial Guinea to reach the knockouts stage.
MATCH FACTS
● Côte d’Ivoire are only the second host country to lose in the group stage of a home Africa Cup of Nations in the 21st century, following Equatorial Guinea’s 1-0 defeat to Zambia in 2012.
● Nigeria have scored at least one goal in 13 of their 14 Africa Cup of Nations group games over the last five editions in which they have participated, only failing to beat Madagascar in 2019 (2-0 defeat). At the same time, the Super Eagles have kept 8 clean sheets over this period.
● 1.6 goals were scored on average in the games between Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations, with 11 goals scored in seven matches. This is the co-lowest ratio in a match played at least as many times in the competition (1.6 – 11 goals in 7 games also for Egypt-Morocco).
● Côte d’Ivoire have conceded a penalty goal in the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time since 2015 and a Dieumerci Mbokani strike for DR Congo. At each of the previous two editions (2019 and 2021), the Elephants conceded a penalty before being saved by their woodworks, each time against Algeria.
● Goal scorer in the opening game of the Africa Cup of Nations, Sekou Fofana attempted five shots against Nigeria. No Ivorian player has attempted more in a single match in the competition since Opta began analysing this data (2010).
● Victor Osimhen was involved in 21 duels against Côte d’Ivoire, the highest tally at this AFCON edition. This is the third-highest tally for a Nigeria player at an AFCON tournament since Opta began analysing this data, behind Emmanuel Emenike (25 in 2013) and Paul Onuachu (23 in 2019).
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