Taiwo Idris
Super Eagles of Nigeria beat Algeria 2 0 to progress to the quarter final of the AFCON with goals coming from Talisman Victor Osimhen in the 47th minute and Adams Akor in the 57th minute.
It was a dominant display from Nigeria who created series of chances thorough out the game. One of those chances almost resulted in goal in the 23rd minutes when Ademola Lookman forced a save from Luca Zidane after striking from inside the box.
Ademola Lookman forced a save off the Algeria goalkeeper Luca Zidane in the 23rd minute after a productive attack. Nigeria should have however made Algeria keeper Luca Zidane pay for his poor clearance which fell nicely to Akor who fired above the crossbar.
Nigeria’s Fulham center back Calvin Bassey lashed onto a free kick in the minute which was cleared on the line by Ramy Bensebaini that action with absence of goal line technology allows VAR to check if the entire ball crossed the line, it however didn’t count.
Nigeria nullified whatever attack the Algerians would have loved to have with commanding midfield presence from Frank Onyeka, Wilfred Ndidi and Alex Iwobi who was immense in the game with numerous forward passes tearing Algeria midfield open.
Riyadh Mahrez was almost non existent in the game as he failed to inspire his team, he was subsequently replaced in the second half. Persistent chance creation however resulted in Akor Adams scoring his second goal in the game and his second in the tournament to secure the win for Nigeria.
Nigeria came close to scoring a third in the game when Akor’s header following impressive play from Nigeria hit the woodwork, shortly Osimhen had his header in the far post saved by Zidane to ensure the game remains 2 to nil.
Nigeria will now face host nation Morocco in the semi final on Wednesday in Rabat.
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