Nigeria’s Super Eagles yesterday defeated fierce rivals, Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, 2-0 at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny in the round of 16 fixtures.
Nigeria started the game with intensity from the blast of the whistle with Victor Osimhen bursting down the right wing in the early minutes of the heavyweight clash.
In the eighth minute, Nigeria thought they had taken the early lead through Semi Ajayi but the goal was ruled for offside to the relief of Cameroonians.
With the temperature at 82 degrees Fahrenheit, 28 degrees Celsius in Abidjan, the players were called to the sidelines for a cooling break in the 31st minute.
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Five minutes after, Osimhen created something from nothing, and Nigeria took the lead. Osimhen, who was an absolute menace out of possession and kept making important tackles. This time, he caught Cameroon’s defender out, raced onto the ball and sets up Ademola Lookman for a simple finish. Fabrice Ondoa made half a save but the ball managed to trickle over the line for Nigeria to lead and end the first half 1-0.
At the restart of the second half, Cameroon, wary of an early exit, went in search of their first shot on goal and brought in striker Vincent Aboubakar to help redeem their campaign.
There was however palpable fear from the Nigerian side when goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali, left the pitch on a stretcher with his hands covering his eyes and was replaced by under-fire Francis Uzoho in the 80th minute. Cameroon had their first chance to test him following his introduction the next minute.
With the game gradually coming to an end, there was less urgency from Nigeria, but Lookman had another idea as he scored his brace in the 90th minute as the three-time champions defeated the five-time champion 2-0.
It would be noted that Nigeria stopped the opposition from scoring a first-half goal in three of their four games which no team had done in this tournament.
With this win, Nigeria will be trading tackles with Angola in the quarter-finals on Friday in Abidjan.
