A brace of penalties late in the second half from Victor Moses saw
Nigeria save their blushes and qualify for the knockout stages of the
2013 African Cup of Nations after beating Ethiopia 2-0 in their final
Group C match at the Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg on Tuesday
night.
With Bukina Faso and Zambia drawing 0-0 in the other Group
D game, Nigeria ended second in the group and will now play Ivory Coast
in the quarterfinals of the continental competition.
The first 45 minutes took a pattern we have become familiar with during this AFCON tournament when Nigeria takes to the field.
The
Super Eagles dominated the majority of the play, but for all their
possession they were unable to make one of their openings on goal count.
It
wasn’t a case of the Nigerians not creating chances in front of goal,
instead, it was a case of them misfiring which luckily didn’t come back
to haunt them. Fortunately for the Eagles, though, Ethiopia were hardly
in the game and only really created one chance in the first stanza.
Nigeria,
however, should have taken the lead as early as the third minute when a
left-sided free-kick found Efe Ambrose unmarked at the back post, but
his ten-yard header went inches over the crossbar.
In the 16th
minute Ethiopia created their first and only real chance on goal from a
corner-kick. Some sloppy defending by Nigeria saw Saladin Said with a
free header form six-yards out, but his attempt went over the target.
Six
minutes later and we saw our third headed attempt on goal when
Ikechukwu Uche was on the end of a right sided free-kick delivery from
Victor Moses, but he, like his compatriots before him, headed wide of
the target from ten-yards out.
In the 35th minute another
set-piece resulted in a headed attempt on goal. This time Elderson
Echiejile met the corner with a powerful header form 14-yards out. His
attempt, though, was on target but Ethiopian keeper, Sisay Bancha, was
on hand to make a fine save.
The best chance of the half fell to
Nigerian defender Kenneth Omeruo after a free-kick delivered into the
box resulted in a goalmouth scramble seconds before the half time break.
The loose ball fell to Omeruo, but he fired over from close range to
take the teams into the break all-square.
The start of the second 45 saw Omeruo with another golden chance to open the scoring seven minutes after the restart.
Omeruo was on the end of another corner at the back post, but his header from close range sailed inches over the woodwork.
In
the 66th minute, Nigeria were able to fashion another chance on goal
from a corner-kick. This time Oboabona met the ball with a header, but
while his attempt beat the keeper he saw his header cleared off the goal
line by Abebaw Butaco.
Finally, in the 78th minute the Super
Eagles were able to make all their pressure tell when Victor Moses was
pulled down inside the box and the referee did not hesitate to point to
the penalty spot.
Moses stepped-up and coolly converted the spot-kick to give his side the lead, 1-0.
With
five minutes to go Moses broke on the counter-attack and won the second
penalty of the match when keeper, Sisay Bancha, pulled him down inside
the box. Bancha was consequently shown his second yellow card of the
night and had to leave the field.
With Ethiopia having made all
three of their substitutes outfield player Addis Hintsu had to take the
goalies spot and there was nothing he could do to stop Moses from
scoring his second penalty goal and sealing victory for Nigeria, 2-0.
Source : mtnfootball.com
