It was rather not too convincing display from the 3 times Champion of the competition the Super Eagles who edged out the host Nation Cote d’Ivoire Thanks to a penalty which was converted by Super Eagles Captain Troost-Ekong Williams.
The long awaited competitive meeting in over a decade between these two multiple-time tournament winners began on a fast pace. And within 60 seconds of one another, at one end of the field Victor Osimhen broke free of the hosts’ back line only to put his effort over the bar in his first attempt at goal.
The Elephant likewise had an opportunity to break the deadlock minutes later, but Stanley Nwabili was up to the task as he forced out a Christian Kouamé’s close-range effort around the post, sparing team-mate Zaidu Sanusi’s blushes for his mistake.
Winning Would have sealed The Elephant’s progression into the knockout stages, whilst the Super Eagles desperately needed the maximum three points to keep their qualification hopes in their own hands.
The First Half ended in a stalemate as both teams were unable to convert their chances, the Elephants looked more threatening but all their effort were successfully truncated by Super Eagles Goalkeeper Nwabali who looked ready for the tasks.
The Second half spring back to life finally as a VAR review on a challenge made on Osimhen gave the Super Eagles the chance to take the lead from the spot.
10 minutes after the restart. Osimhen had initially gone down under a challenge from Ousmane Diomande. And It took the intervention of the VAR to award them the penalty. Unexpectedly, the African Footballer of the Year -did not step up to take it, instead the honour fell to ex-Watford defender Troost-Ekong and he didn’t disappoint as he blasted the shot past Yahia Fofana to make it 1-0 to give Nigeria the lead.
Well That proved to be the only Goal of the night as all efforts from both team to strike the back of the net proved unsuccessful.
In the end the Super Eagles won’t mind the stat as they earned the all important 3 point to move second on the table tied with Equatorial Guinea on 4 point but with a far lesser goal difference.
The Victory means there will be a late drama in group A as to who will eventually qualify for the knockout stage.
Up next is the final round of matches in group A on the 22nd of January 2024. Which will see Nigeria take on Guinea Bissau as Cote d’Ivoire face off with Equatorial Guinea who seems to be ready to put up a fight in this tournament.
