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AFCON 2023: Super Eagles of Nigeria Fly high in Coted’Ivore

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Adelani Ogunrinade
Adelani Ogunrinadehttp://www.jozigist.co.za
Adelani Ogunrinade (jnr.) has been the face of an array of prominent TV stations in Africa. An infectious sense of humor and an amiable onscreen persona has made the Sports and entertainment writer a well-loved TV personality. The British born Nigerian media practitioner has covered prestigious football festivals like the 2018 World Cup in Russia as well as several African Nations Cup tournaments

The first hat-trick of AFCON scored

Equatorial Guinea put their opening day draw with the Super Eagles behind them and thrashed Guinea Bissau, 4-2, thanks to the brilliance of  34 year-old defender, Emilio Nsue who scored the first hat-trick of Afcon 2023. The result keeps the Nzalang Nacional in contention to qualify from Group A.

The Super Eagles have finally landed

The likes of Didier Drogba, Jay Jay Okocha and even Senegalese pop sensation, Akon were seated in the stands to watch the war between Coted’Ivoire and Nigeria.

The two teams last met in the 2013 AFCON quarter-finals; Nigeria won that match 2-1 and went on to be crowned African Champions that year. The Elephants had a chance to get sweet revenge at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium.

 The best chance of the first half fell to Victor Osimhen after just eight minutes when he latched on to a pass from Samuel Chukwueze but the forward seemed to have forgotten his shooting boots in the Napoli changing rooms and sent his efforts high over the bar.

The African player of the year soon made amends when he won a penalty for The Super Eagles in the 51st minute. Captain Troost-Ekong stepped up to fire home the penalty!

 The tournament hosts failed to find a way back into the game, with Seko Fofana and Franck Kessie blazing efforts well off target. The 1 – 0 win means Nigeria joins Equatorial Guinea at the top of Group A on 4 points while Ivory Coast remains on 3 points and Guinea Bissau remains rooted to the bottom of the table on zero points!

Mohammed Kudus 2 Egypt 2

In another firecracker of a match, seven-time champions Egypt fought back twice to draw 2-2 with the Black Stars of Ghana.

No Black Star shone brighter than Mohammed Kudus last night!

The West Ham Star showed what Ghana was missing against Cape Verde as he blasted Ghana ahead in first-half stoppage time, a minute after Pharaohs captain Mohamed Salah was forced off due to a hamstring injury.

Omar Marmoush levelled the game in the second half but Kudus came to the rescue again and quickly restored the Black Stars’ lead. However, Mostafa Mohamed got an equalizer to give Egypt their second point and leave Ghana still without a win in Group Egypt and Ghana can still qualify but must win their last games.

What a tournament it has been so far!

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