To AFCON 2023 quarter-finals

By Rasheed Adewuyi
A fearless Nigerian side marched assuredly into the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals after a revving up into the fifth-gear performance that eliminated Cameroon from the continent’s flagship football championship on Saturday.
The Super Eagles, who took seven out of the maximum nine points from their group phase matches, stepped onto the relatively familiar turf of the Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny to take on Cameroon for one of the AFCON 2023 quarter-final tickets.
They had taken the lead with assurance and mindset when Semi Ajayi swept the ball home from a goalmouth melee. Though Moroccan referee Redouane Jiyed initially whistled for a goal advantage for Nigeria, but was summoned by the Video Assistant Referee to watch the action again and afterward ruled out the strike.
Nigeria’s twin arsenal in Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman did not relent. In the 35th minute, Africa Player-of-the-Year Osimhen picked the pocket of a dithering defender, Oumar Gonzalez, and threaded the ball through to Lookman, who shot past Fabrice Ondoa in Cameroon’s goalpost from close range to give Nigeria the lead.
After the recess, Nigeria continued where they had left off in the first period, and Lookman blasted over the sticks from a 22-yard free-kick. Five minutes later, Lookman freed Osimhen, but the Super Eagles’ number nine shirt got too much purchase on the ball, and Ondoa cleared.
Cameroon called goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali to duty in the 71st minute with a fierce free-kick, but the goaltender punched clear. Nwabali was injured in another goalmouth melee and had to be substituted for Francis Uzoho.
Five minutes from the end, a one-two of Osimhen and Lookman from the left saw the ball roll to Olaoluwa Aina in the box, but his effort was too weak, allowing Ondoa to block with his leg.
On the dot of 90 minutes, Calvin Bassey and Lookman combined from the left, and with the Cameroonian defense bewildered, Lookman placed the ball to the far left of Ondoa for his, and Nigeria’s, second goal of the night, sending the crowd into wild delirium.
“It was a solid performance, and Nigeria is proud of this team. They did a great job tonight, and the country looks forward to the quarter-finals with high expectations,” President of NFF, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, said after the final whistle.
The three-time champions, who knocked out Cameroon from the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Round 16, will now confront Angola’s Palancas Negras (Black Levers) in the quarter-finals on Friday. Venue is the Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Abidjan.