Highly rated Super Eagles of Nigeria were yesterday humbled 1-0 by lowly rated Madagascar after a awful performance by the three time African champions in their final group match at the ongoing AFCON in Egypt.
By the shocking defeat, the Super Eagles have handed the Indian Ocean islanders leadership of Group B and are condemned to ignominious second place and a probable encounter with the Black Stars of Ghana in the Round of 16.
In what would forever remain a day to forget in Nigerian Football, the group leaders started on the wrong footing as Leon Balogun failed to deal with a routine back pass, leading to the ball being snatched by Lailana to score the first goal for the competition debutants after only 13 minutes.
The Eagles, who won each of their two previous matches by the odd goal, showed a palpable lack of mental power to respond, with Samuel Kalu fluffing a great pass by Ahmed Musa in the 19th minute and Musa himself, left with the goalkeeper to beat as a pass found him in the eighteen-yard box, bungled with a poor first touch, and his subsequent attempt to dribble the goalkeeper failed.
In the second half, instead of working hard to get on level terms in no time, Nigeria quickly found themselves further behind when substitute Wilfred Ndidi deflected a free kick by Carolus Andrea past a wrong-footed goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa.
A deep soul -searching is imminent in the Nigeria camp after such a flat performance, against a team rated lower than 100th in the world and making its first -ever appearance at the Africa Cup of Nations.
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