Nigeria took a huge step
towards reaching the last 16 at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations with a 1-0 win
over hosts Ivory Coast in Group A.
The match's key moment
came in the 55th minute after Ousmane Diomande caught Victor Osimhen in the box.
That allowed William Troost-Ekong to blast home from the penalty spot.
Nigeria
leapfrog the Elephants to go second in Group A and are behind leaders
Equatorial Guinea, who beat Guinea-Bissau 4-2 earlier
on Thursday, on goal difference.
The Ivorians have three points after two games and will now need
to beat Equatorial Guinea on Monday (17:00 GMT) to guarantee progress to the
knockout stage.
Nigeria - whose four points could already be enough to see the
three-time winners through - face Guinea-Bissau (17:00 GMT) in their final
Group A fixture.
The
newly-built Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan has now hosted four games in
this Nations Cup with several more, including the final, yet to come.
So club managers in Europe and beyond will have been concerned
to see multi-million pound players taking part in a contest held on a dry pitch
that cut up regularly.
Osimhen's best opportunity came after just eight minutes when he
latched on to a pass from Samuel Chukwueze but the Napoli forward failed to
keep a bouncing ball down, sending his effort high over the bar.
Less than a minute later, Nigeria goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali was
quickly off his line to use his body to make a point-blank save from Christian
Kouame.
Ivorian defender Evan Ndicka then failed to connect properly with
a half-volley from near the penalty spot, allowing Nwabali to comfortably
gather.
After the fast start, the pace dwindled as the first half wore
on, and the deadlock was ultimately broken early in the second period after VAR
played its hand.
Diomande's challenge on Osimhen after 51 minutes was
fractionally late, catching the African player of the year and sending him to
the turf.
With Osimhen down, the game carried on for around one minute
until Algerian referee Mustapha Ghorbal was called over to review the challenge
on the monitor.
Having changed his decision, Super Eagles captain Troost-Ekong
was the surprise choice to assume penalties duties, with the former Watford
defender choosing power over placement to beat Yahia Fofana.
The tournament hosts failed to find a way back into the game,
with Seko Fofana and Franck Kessie blazing efforts well off target and Ndicka
sending a header from a free-kick wide.
The Elephants' first ever defeat against Nigeria on home soil
means Ivory Coast become the first host nation to lose an Afcon group game in
18 fixtures going back to 2012.
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