Nigeria Super Eagles put up a fine performance to beat hosts the Elephants of Côte d’Ivoire 1-0 at the ongoing 2023 AFCON tournament on Thursday, www.aclsports.com reports.
Head coach Jose Peseiro, knowing fully well that nothing but a win is needed, tweaked his formation to accommodate defender Calvin Bassey as the Eagles won 1-0 courtesy of William Troost-Ekong’s penalty midway through the second half.
In his pre-match conference, Peseiro confirmed that midfielder Alhassan Yusuf, who had a fine competitive debut against Equatorial Guinea, will be out of the crunch tie with Les Elephants. So, the Portuguese opted for a change in the system as he introduced Bassey into the three-at-the-back system with Samuel Chukwueze also replacing Moses Simon in attack.
The 2013 champions started the game well and should have gone in front when Chukwueze played a lovely through-ball to Victor Osimhen, only for the Napoli Striker to blast over when he should have at least hit the target.
Almost immediately, goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali had to make himself big to deny Christian Kouame at the other end. Meanwhile, Nigeria continued to work the backline of the hosts but they could not test goalkeeper Yahia Fofana even from the numerous set-pieces. Man of the match from the tournament opener, Seko Fofana sent a long-range effort goalwards but Nwabali was equal to the task as he parried the effort away to safety.
Peseiro’s men were disciplined in their approach, relying on the ruggedness of Osimhen in attack coupled with the trickery and pace of Chukwueze and Ademola Lookman. In the end, the half ended goalless.
After the break, the Super Eagles stepped things up and their tenacity in attack resulted in a penalty after a VAR check. Osimhen was adjudged to have been upended in the box by Ousmane Diomande and skipper of the day Ekong expertly dispatched the spot-kick to hand Nigeria the lead, much to the delight of the Nigerians in the stadium.
In attack, Nigeria could have added more goals through Chukwueze and substitute Bright Osayi-Samuel if not for some poor decision-making in the final third.
Nwabali, who explained where he got his confidence from, coordinated his backline properly and made some good claims and interventions to deny the hosts any sniff of his goal. Defenders Bassey, Semi Ajayi, Ola Aina, and Ekong all gave their all as they held on to record their first win of the tournament.
With the win, Nigeria go second behind Equatorial Guinea – who pummelled Guinea-Bissau 4-2 in the group’s other game at Stade Alassane Ouattara Ebimpe – by virtue of goal difference.
Super Eagles will play their final group game against Guinea-Bissau on January 22 at Stade Félix-Houphouët-Boigny in Abidjan with the hopes of finishing top of the pile.
Samuel Areo in Abidjan
