January 19, (THEWILL) – Nigeria’s 2-0 win over Guinea-Bissau in the final Group D tie capped up a strong showing in the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations group stages.
Already guaranteed a spot in the last 16, the Super Eagles advanced to the knockout stages as Group D winners with a perfect record after winning their third game in a row on Wednesday.
There was an opportunity to ease off the gas, but Nigeria coach Augustine Eguavoen chose to keep the momentum going as his team put up a convincing performance.
A scoreless first half of near misses was early warning as Nigeria emerged as the dominant force after the break, with goals from Umar Sadiq and William Troost-Ekong sealing the victory.
In the 56th minute, Sadiq scored his first international goal, knocking in a fantastic low cross from Kelechi Iheanacho, who had pushed Guinea-Bissau goalkeeper Maurice Gomis to turn over the crossbar with an ambitious effort from more than 40 yards minutes before.
After the superb Moses Simon jinked past several defenders and struck the bar with a ferocious shot, captain William Troost-Ekong ensured victory 15 minutes from time, poking into an empty net on the rebound.
The offside flag appeared to have denied Troost-Ekong, but a long VAR review resulted in a goal that put the game out of reach.
Guinea-Bissau hardly threatened a reaction and will return home having failed to score for the seventh consecutive AFCON game, which is, in itself, an unenviable competition record.
On the other hand, Eguavoen goes into the knockout stages with his charges riding on the momentum of a perfect record, six goals with a five-goal difference and a better chance at making the next round when their next opponents are known.
Along with Nigeria, Egypt also makes it through to the next stage after beating Sudan by another lone goal victory.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
