Shakes up Group A

Nigeria landed a significant blow in the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON knockout qualification race by defeating hosts Cote d’Ivoire 1-0 in Thursday’s titanic Group A clash.

Before a packed Stade Alassane Ouattara in Abidjan, the two African heavyweights served up a pulsating contest.

The Ivorian fans were silenced when William Troost-Ekong converted a 54th-minute penalty after Victor Osimhen was fouled.

Despite relentless roars of support, the Elephants could not find an equalizer as the Super Eagles held on for a famous victory.

Nigeria managed the closing stages expertly to condemn the stunned Elephants to their first defeat.

The Super Eagles stood tall amid intense Ivorian pressure to land a psychological blow on one of Africa’s proudest footballing nations.

The 1-0 triumph lifts Nigeria level on four points with surprise package Equatorial Guinea at the Group A summit.

Cote d’Ivoire remains third on three points and likely needs to beat Equatorial Guinea to reach the knockouts.

By subduing the hosts in their imposing fortress, Nigeria has emphatically revived their AFCON campaign.

The Super Eagles stood tall amid intense Ivorian pressure to land a psychological blow on one of Africa’s proudest footballing nations.

Having flexed their muscles by quietening the Abidjan crowd, Peseiro’s men have warned TotalEnergies AFCON 2023 rivals.

Below are the match facts

• Côte d’Ivoire is the second host country to lose in the group stage of a home Africa Cup of Nations in the 21st century, following Equatorial Guinea’s 1-0 defeat to Zambia in 2012.

• Nigeria have scored at least one goal in 13 of their 14 Africa Cup of Nations group games over the last five editions in which they have participated, only failing to beat Madagascar in 2019 (2-0 defeat). At the same time, the Super Eagles have kept 8 clean sheets over this period.

• 6 goals were scored on average in the games between Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations, with 11 goals scored in seven matches. This is the co-lowest ratio in a match played at least as often in the competition (1.6 – 11 goals in 7 games also for Egypt-Morocco).

• Côte d’Ivoire has conceded a penalty goal in the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time since 2015 and a Dieumerci Mbokani strike for DR Congo. At each of the previous two editions (2019 and 2021), the Elephants conceded a penalty before being saved by their woodworks, each time against Algeria.

• Goalscorer in the opening game of the Africa Cup of Nations, Seko Fofana attempted five shots today against Nigeria, no Côte d’Ivoire player has attempted more in a single match in the competition since Opta began analysing this data (2010).

• Today, Victor Osimhen played 21 duels against Côte d’Ivoire, the highest tally of this Africa Cup of Nations 2023. This is the third-highest tally for a Nigeria player at an AFCON since Opta began analyzing this data, behind Emmanuel Emenike (25 in 2013) and Paul Onuachu (23 in 2019).