Views: 0
Following a jittery start to their TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023 campaign, the Super Eagles of Nigeria soared into the final in impressive fashion to send out a strong signal of being title contenders.
The three-time champions face hosts Cote d’Ivoire in Bouake on Sunday at 20h00 in what promises to be an action packed encounter.
Group A – Finished Second place
Drawn in a tough Group A consisting of tournament hosts, Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea Bissau.
The Super Eagles finished second in their group after worrying 1-1 draw against Equatorial Guinea saw them bounce back against the Elephants with a narrow 1-0 win and a similar scoreline against Guinea-Bissau which earned them a place in the round of 16.
Round of 16 (Nigeria 2-0 Cameroon)
The round of 16 saw Nigeria getting into rhythm and hitting full speed. An interesting tie between them and Cameroon saw the red-hot Ademola Lookman finding the back of the net twice for his side to send the Indomitable Lions crashing out of the competition.
Quarter-Finals (Nigeria 1-0 Angola)
The quarter finals were not so much of a high scoring match for the Super Eagles as they narrowly edged a resilient Angola 1-0 in Abidjan. While they may not have found the back of the net more than once, the three-time champions demonstrated true champions’ mentality with their impressive game management ability.
Semi-Final ( Nigeria 4-2 South Africa ) on penalties.
Nigeria continued their dominance over South Africa by defeating them on penalties to progress to the finals.
With 120 minutes ending 1-1, Nigeria luckily won on penalties to repeat what happened in 2000 when they knocked out South Africa in the semi-finals also.
Final ( Nigeria vs Cotê d’Ivoire)
An epic encounter awaits in the final, a repeat of the second Group A game of the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON Côte d’lvoire 2023, which went in favor of Nigeria thanks to a William Troost – Ekong’s penalty.
For Cotê d’Ivoire, it’s revenge time.