Nigeria’s Super Eagles have strengthened their position as one of the favourites to win this year’s African Cup of Nations after defeating home nation Ivory Coast 1-0.
In the 55th minute, Nigerian defender William Troost-Ekong converted a penalty after striker Victor Osimhen was shoved into the penalty area by Ivorian defenders.
The Eagles matched the host country’s firepower in today’s encounter, which contrasted with their performance against Equatorial Guinea on Sunday.
Prior to the goal, both teams had chances, with Nigeria being the most wasteful in front of goal.
Following a poor performance against Equatorial Guinea on Sunday, Nigerian fans were concerned that the Eagles would fail to advance from the group stages, but today’s performance against the Elephants has renewed hopes for a successful trip to Ivory Coast.
Nigeria is now tied for first place in the group with Equatorial Guinea on four points, with Ivory Coast on three and Guinea-Bissau eliminated after losing both games.
The fact that the four best third-placed teams in each of the six groups will all move to the round of 16, provides room for error, but Ivory Coast must now defeat Equatorial Guinea in their final encounter on Monday to ensure progression.
Meanwhile, Nigeria needs only avoid defeat against Guinea-Bissau, which was previously thrashed 4-2 by Equatorial Guinea, in order to finish in the top two.
The match was attended by 49,517 people, a far larger audience than for the hosts’ first game, when the number of empty seats at the 60,000-capacity venue sparked controversy.
Despite the favorable atmosphere, the Elephants became the first host nation to lose an AFCON group stage encounter since 2012, when Equatorial Guinea, co-hosts with Gabon at the time, lost 1-0 to Zambia.
Gabon was the last host nation to be eliminated in the first round, after three draws in 2017.
Ivory Coast were still missing star forward Sebastien Haller while he recovers from injury, and coach Jean-Louis Gasset made two changes to their starting lineup, bringing in Serge Aurier at right-back and Christian Kouame on the right wing.
It was the teams’ first meeting at the AFCON since a quarterfinal in 2013, the year they last won the trophy.