Goals from Nigeria’s front two sealed a dominant 2-0 victory over Algeria, sending the Super Eagles into the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), where they will now face Morocco, Softfootball reports.
Fresh from a commanding 4-0 round-of-16 win over Mozambique, Éric Chelle’s side started this quarter-final with real authority and quickly imposed themselves on proceedings. Ademola Lookman was at the heart of Nigeria’s early threat, cutting inside to fire a powerful effort straight at Luca Zidane.
Moments later, he almost released Victor Osimhen clean through on goal, only for a brilliantly timed challenge from Rayan Aït-Nouri to deny the striker what looked a certain opener.
Nigeria continued to knock on the door before the break. Calvin Bassey came agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock when his delicate finish from a searching free-kick was hacked off the line. By half-time, the Super Eagles’ dominance was clear, having limited Algeria to no shots on goal throughout the opening period.
During the game, Caf via its official X handle, shared the exclusive pitch side of Victor Osimhen celebrating his goal with his teammates, they posted:
The breakthrough finally arrived shortly after the restart. Osimhen rose highest to meet Bruno Onyemaechi’s pinpoint delivery, heading home his 35th international goal to give Nigeria a fully deserved lead. The pressure barely relented, and the Super Eagles doubled their advantage soon after. Osimhen turned provider this time, squaring the ball for Akor Adams after being picked out brilliantly by Alex Iwobi, with Adams calmly finishing to make it 2-0.
That strike effectively killed the contest. Adams’ third goal across two knockout matches underlined Nigeria’s cutting edge, while Algeria struggled to respond, failing to register a single effort on target across the 90 minutes. Despite arriving at this stage after a hard-fought 1-0 extra-time victory over DR Congo, the Desert Foxes were unable to cope with Nigeria’s intensity and organisation.
Caf via its official X handle, shared the highlights of Akor Adams celebrating his goal after scoring the second for Nigeria, they posted:
Nigeria’s comfortable win keeps them firmly on course in their pursuit of a fourth AFCON title. Attention now turns to a mouth-watering semi-final clash against Morocco, the 2022 FIFA World Cup semi-finalists, who booked their place by defeating Cameroon on Friday. On the other side of the draw, one of Senegal or Egypt/Ivory Coast awaits in the final as the tournament reaches its decisive stages.
