Odion Ighalo’s second-minute goal, his fifth of the tournament, handed Nigeria’s Super Eagles the Total Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Egypt 2019 bronze medal after a 1-0 win over Tunisia at the Al Salam Stadium in Cairo on Wednesday night.
With a maiden Afcon medal around his neck, it wasn’t a near-perfect evening for Ighalo, who was almost reduced to tears. The Chinese based striker limped off the pitch and had to be consoled by his teammates after pulling his hamstring as he raced off on a counter and tried to make a pass.
INTERVENTION: Wahbi Khazri of Tunisia stopped by Kenneth Omeruo. Photo: Sumaya Hisham/Reuters.
The Shanghai Shenhua forward stretched his foot to nudge the ball home from a yard out after Tunisia keeper Moez Ben Cherifia and his defender Yassine Meriah both clashed as they threw themselves on the ground to try and cut out Collins Jamilu’s cross from the left.
Ighalo will hope neither Sadio Mane or Adam Ounas scores a goal in Friday evening’s final to cling on to the Afcon Golden Boot as they both trail him by two goals.
Enjoy @ighalojude's goal as he led his country to bronze - this is our penultimate @1xbet_Eng goal of the day for #TotalAFCON2019👇 pic.twitter.com/1vYK89pcqm
— CAF (@CAF_Online) July 17, 2019
The Tunisians took control of the game both in terms of possession and chances created with limited to no victory come close of game.
In the eighth minute, defender Kenneth Omeruo had to make a brilliant intervention to cut out Taha Khenissi’s shot from the right after he had been sent through by a delightful ball from skipper Wahbi Khazri.
ON THE ATTACK: Nigeria's Alex Iwobi in action with Tunisia's Ferjani Sassi. Photo: Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters.
Ferjani Sassi came inches close after 14 minutes, his low effort from the edge of the box after skillfully evading a tackle from Peter Etebo went just wide. Nigeria were playing too deep in their half and had let the midfield partnership of Sassi and Joris Skhiri take charge of the tempo.
In the second half, Tunisia started from the same place they left in the first half and came close to a goal just two minutes in when Khazri sent substitute Firas Chaouat through, but the striker hit the side netting facing Francis Uzoho one on one.
African News Agency