After losing out to Morocco via penalties in the battle to qualify for tomorrow’s final of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Nigeria’s Super Eagles were determined not to sink below the top 3 in the overall standings when they faced off today versus the Pharaohs of Egypt in Morocco.
The third place match -Egypt having been beaten to the final by Senegal within the week -promised to be a battle of wits and grit as neither team wanted to go home without the bronze medal.
In the end, it was the Super Eagles who nicked the penalty shootout 4-2,after regulation time of 90 minutes yielded a barren draw.
In so doing, Nigeria bagged their ninth AFCON bronze, at Casablanca’s Mohammed V Stadium.
The Egyptians had the first taste of the Super Eagles goalpost in the 2nd minute after a quick pass from the North Africans caught the Nigerian defence napping, but goalie Stanley Nwabali was quick to save the ball.
The three-time AFCON champions had their first shot on target in the 13th minute thanks to Akor Adams’ low drive shot that was calmly saved by Egypt goalkeeper Khaled Sobhi.
In the 26th minute, a quick interchange of passes between two Egyptian players found Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah in Nigeria’s 18-yard box, but he could not beat the Chippa United goalkeeper (Nwabali).
The Super Eagles broke the deadlock in the 35th minute through Adams’ header, for his third goal of the competition.
However, the goal was cancelled by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) due to Paul Onuachu’s elbow on an Egyptian defender. He was also shown a yellow card for the incident.
Nigeria had another opportunity to open the scoring after a through pass found Adams in the 42nd minute, but the ball was intercepted by Ramy Rabia.
At the start of the second half, an outside shot from Onyedika was saved by the Egyptian goalkeeper before another shot from Simon a few minutes later failed to threaten the goalkeeper.
In the 59th minute, a long-range shot from Mostafa Mohamed went way wide of the goalpost to keep the scoreline goalless.
Adams could have broken the deadlock in the 78th minute, but a push from behind by an Egyptian defender denied the Sevilla striker a goal-scoring opportunity.
Subsequently, there was a VAR check to determine if there was a push on Adams from behind, which was later waved off.
All attempts by both teams to score the winning goal proved abortive after 90 minutes, sending the game to a penalty shootout.
The Super Eagles won the shootout.
Egypt, penalty scorers:
M. Saber 120′ (P)
R. Rabia 120′ (P)
Nigeria, penalty scorers:
A. Iwobi 120′ (P)
A. Adams 120′ (P)
A. Lookman 120′ (P)
M. Simon 120′ (P).
*PHOTO CAPTION: Action from the match.
