By Akinwale Kasali
The Super Eagles of Nigeria has failed to feature in its Eight African Cup of Nations final, as a last-gasp set-piece from Leicester City midfielder, Riyad Mahrez, shattered the hopes of coach Gernot Rohr side. The Desert Warriors of Algeria defeated the Super Eagles 2-1.
The Algerians dominated the match right from kick-off, creating several scoring chances, but Super Eagles goalkeeper, Daniel Akpeyi, saved the situation on,at least, two occasions.
The pressure from the Algerians paid off, as a cross from Mahrez was deflected into the net by William Troost Ekong, for the Desert Warriors to take the lead into the break.
On resumption of the second half, Nigeria came out from their shell as a shot from Oghenekaro Etebo was handled by an Algerian defender in the 18-yard box to give Nigeria a penalty through the Video Assistant Referee, VAR.
The spot kick was converted by Odion Jude Ighalo to register his fourth goal of the competition, to become the current top scorer.
After the equaliser, the Super Eagles came into the game, but seconds to the end of the game, Nigeria’s hope was shattered, following a foul at the edge of its box by Wilfred Ndidi to give the Algerians a free-kick which was converted by Mahrez.
With this loss, Nigeria will play the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia in the third place playoff on Friday, 17th July, 2019.
The last time Algeria featured at the AFCON final was in 1990, where it defeated the Green Eagles of Nigeria 1-0 to lift its first AFCON trophy.
Algeria will play the Teranga Lions of Senegal, which will be a repeat of the group stage of the competition where both teams played, with Algeria winning 1-0.
Senegal will be playing in its second ever AFCON final, with the first coming at the 2002 AFCON Championships in Mali.
Senegal lost 4-3 on penalties to the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon to give Cameroon a back-to-back, having won AFCON 2000.
The final comes up on Friday, 19th July, 2019, at the Cairo International Stadium.
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