Deborah Akinyosoye
Nigeria’s Super Eagles in a thrilling match book a semi-final spot at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations with an impressive 2-0 win against Algeria.
Victor Osimhen opened the scoring just after half-time for the Super Eagles in Marrakesh, and then set up Akor Adams for the second goal just before the hour mark to set up a last-four showdown with hosts Morocco.
Nigeria dominated the first half in Marrakesh without scoring before getting the breakthrough within two minutes of the restart as Osimhen headed in.
The 2023 African player of the year then turned provider for the second goal just before the hour mark, setting up Akor Adams to put the Super Eagles out of sight.
Runners-up at the last AFCON two years ago in Ivory Coast, Nigeria came to Morocco still smarting from their failure to qualify for the upcoming World Cup but are dreaming of winning a fourth continental title here.
They were not intimidated by a Marrakesh crowd of 32,452 which was almost entirely given over to the Algerian cause, but the atmosphere is likely to be far more hostile for Wednesday’s semi-final in Rabat.
Algeria had beaten Nigeria en route to winning their last Cup of Nations title in Egypt in 2019 and this has been by far their best campaign at the tournament since then.
Their large support which descended on a stadium set against the backdrop of the Atlas Mountains was full of optimism after Vladimir Petkovic’s side had impressed in the group stage and edged out the Democratic Republic of Congo in the last 16.
Yet a team featuring a formidable front three of Riyad Mahrez, Ibrahim Maza and Mohamed Amoura failed to muster a single shot in the first half and were lucky to be level at half-time.
Nigeria almost scored just before the half-hour mark, when ‘keeper Luca Zidane got nowhere near an Ademola Lookman free-kick delivery and Calvin Bassey turned the ball towards goal.
However, Ramy Bensebaini got there just in time to hook it away from the line.
They then should certainly have scored in the 37th minute as Adams found himself clean through but blazed his shot over the bar.
However, Eric Chelle’s half-time team-talk clearly worked as his Nigeria side wasted no time getting their noses in front at the start of the second half.
Alex Iwobi found Bruno Onyemaechi on the left and his deep cross to the back post was headed low into the net by Osimhen for the opener.
The masked Galatasaray striker had gone seven Cup of Nations matches without finding the net before scoring against Tunisia in the group stage. He now has four in his last four matches.
Nigeria are also the tournament’s top scorers overall with 14 goals in total after Adams made it 2-0 — Osimhen was released in behind and unselfishly squared for the Sevilla striker to round Zidane and finish for his second goal in as many games.
Adams could have had another as he headed off the post when Osimhen held the ball up for him from the line, while Algeria never really looked coming back.
Tensions spilled over between the teams on the pitch at full-time, but it is next stop Rabat for the Super Eagles.