By Daily Sports Nigeria on January 23, 2024

An Opa Sangante’s 37th-minute own goal at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium was all Nigeria needed to beat Guinea Bissau 1-0 in their last Group A game of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, The PUNCH reports.

The Super Eagles finished second in their group with seven points after Equatorial Guinea defeated hosts, Ivory Coast, 4-0 in the other group game.

With qualification already guaranteed after beating Ivory Coast last Thursday, Jose Peseiro gave Bright Osayi-Samuel and Joe Aribo their first AFCON starts with Moses Simon and Kenneth Omeruo also returning to the starting XI as he rested Ademola Lookman, Zaidu Sanusi and Alex Iwobi.

Despite being the whipping boys in the group, having lost their first two games 2-0 to Ivory Coast and 4-2 to Equatorial Guinea, the Wild Dogs surprisingly dominated proceedings from the start and had the first chance of the game in the sixth minute with Nito Gomes testing Stanley Nwabali with a long-range shot which was comfortably saved by the goalkeeper.

After 10 minutes of play, the Eagles began to find their rhythm, stringing a few passes as they tried to open their opponents’ defence.

They, however, had to wait until the 22nd minute to create their first chance.

Aribo fired a long shot after a fine pass from Victor Osimhen but his goal-bound deflected effort was superbly saved by Jonas Asvedo Mendes, in goal for the Bissau Guineans.

Immediately after the cooling break, there was a nervy moment for the Eagles as Gomes’ long pass found Zinho Gano, who was chased down by Omeruo with the Nigerian winning the fierce battle.

The Eagles, however, took the lead eight minutes to the end of the first half as Omeruo’s accurate long ball was superbly kept in play by Ola Aina, whose header found Simon before the Nantes forward’s dangerous low cross was turned into the net by Opa Sangante — for an own goal — following pressure from the marauding Osimhen.

Semi Ajayi got the first yellow card of the encounter for a foul on Dalcio Gomes as he accidentally hit the Guinean while evading a challenge.

A few seconds to the end of the four added minutes in the first half, Osimhen almost doubled the Eagles’ lead as he leapt high to nod a fine cross from Aribo but he missed target by a few inches before referee Bouchra Karboubi ended proceedings in the first 45 minutes.

Two minutes after the restart, the Eagles wasted a glorious chance to double their lead as Simon failed to beat Mendes after being nicely set up by Samuel Chukwueze.

Peseiro’s men came out better organised in the second half and created a series of chances as they looked to double their lead.

Against the run of play, Baciro Cande almost levelled the score in the 57th minute as Gomes’ well placed shot to the bottom right corner of the post was saved by Nwabali.

The scary moment spurred the Eagles to life with the three-time African champions dominating possession but could not find the assuring second goal.

Peseiro sent in Raphael Onyedika and Alex Iwobi in place of Frank Onyeka and Aribo respectively as they continued their search for the second goal.

Iwobi wasted another chance to get the second goal of the encounter with the Fulham man placing his shot wide after a fine solo effort from Simon set him up. Five minutes later, Aina was close to doubling the lead but also failed to hit the target.

Nigeria continued to waste chances and in the 78th minute, Osimhen inexplicably handled the ball in the opponents box, thus having his goal chalked off by referee Bouchra Karboubi.

At the other end, Franculino thought he had equalised for Cande’s men but saw his goal correctly ruled out for offside before Zaidu Sanusi also saw his goal disallowed by the Moroccan referee.

The Eagles will now play the second-place team in Group C — most likely Guinea — in the round of 16.

Source Punch Ng

Posted January 23, 2024

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