Nigeria booked their ticket to the second round of the Africa Cup of Nations in Fes, Morocco courtesy of a 3-2 victory over Tunisia with goals from Victor Osimhen, Wilfred Ndidi and Ademola Lookman.
Ndidi had been named skipper at the start of the tournament and his assured presence in midfield alongside Alex Iwobi has been fundamental in Nigeria’s two wins so far. The Super Eagles dominated against the Carthage Eagles for most of the first half and should have blown them out of the water if not for a couple of misses from Osimhen.
The Galatasaray hitmen eventually redeemed himself with his first goal of the tournament with a minute left of the first half. Lookman ghosted down the left and delivered a pinpoint cross for Osimhen to head in.
Four minutes after the interval, Lookman floated in a corner for Ndidi to nod in. It was his first international goal and he rekindled in his celebration Nwankwo Kanu’s iconic goal celebration at the Atlanta Olympics in which Nigeria won gold. Another gold on the way?
Six minutes after the hour, it was Lookman at the receiving end of an Osimhen lay off and he mesmerised the Tunisian defence before rifling in a left foot effort for his second goal of the tournament. The rampant Nigerians were at this point turning it into a Christmas party at the expense of Tunisia.
As Nigeria clicked into gear, other Afcon favourites must have been wondering whether to give up their hopes. No other team had been this dominant and the Nigerians were even looking dangerous on set pieces – something that was unusual prior to this tournament.
But Stanley Nwabali in goal had other ideas. He somehow managed to let in an innocuous header from Montassar Talbi when it seemed more difficult not to hold on to the ball in the 74th minute. He later claimed he was injured. One Nigerian fan joked on Twitter: Stanley Nwabali bets on himself to concede every game, I know, but I just can’t prove it.
His erratic keeping must be a worry for coach Eric Chelle and this is in stark contrast to his reliability during the last Afcon in which he was crucial in Nigeria’s march to the final. Nigerian’s will hope that his mistakes don’t prove costly down the line.
Another mistake – this time from the VAR officials led to the award of a penalty to Tunisia with a few minutes of the game left. The ball had touched the arm of Bright Osayi-Samuel, but it was clear that his arms were in a “natural position” as they were stretched out during a tussle with a Tunisian attacker. Al Abdi converted the penalty to turn the minutes remaining after regulation time into “squeaky bum time” for Nigerians.
For now, Chelle will take the positives and try to iron out the negatives as Nigeria progresses to the business end of the tournament. He may want to take note of these comments via Twitter from Tunisian fan Islam Bouafif: As someone whose team just faced Osimhen, I have to say playing against him is genuinely scary and frustrating. Our centre backs aren’t usually this bad, and we rarely struggle this much when defending crosses. But this guy is an absolute monster. Right now, I genuinely think he has the best box presence in world football. His movement is extremely intelligent, he knows exactly when and where to attack the space, and physically he is on another level. His strength makes it almost impossible to duel with him, his jumping ability is insane, and he always seems to be at the end of every single cross.
Osimhen’s aerial prowess makes crosses a key part of Nigeria’s arsenal. Essential to this is Nigeria’s best crosser Lookman. Both players are critical for Nigeria’s progress and other players such as Iwobi should also weigh in on the crosses like he did with his assist for Semi Ajayi’s goal against Tanzania in the first game.
