They say whatever has a beginning also has its end. When it comes to a footballing tournament that's as competitive as the African Cup of Nations (AFCON), the end of the tournament can always go one of two ways for anyone that still has a dog in the race. You either come out on the winning side or the losing side.
If you are going to give this a shot, I highly suggest you get the win because it sucks to be on the losing side. I'm not even kidding. I know this from experience because I just watched Nigeria lose the tournament after scoring the first goal of the game. We took the lead, but couldn't stay in the game.
To be fair, did we deserve something out of this game?
I genuinely want to hear the thoughts of those who watched this game. Lemme know what you make of Nigeria's performance in the game.
It's really interesting how Nigeria and Ivory Coast qualified from the same group in the group stages of the tournament. We got to meet again in the finals after going full circle. This time around, the Cup was up for grabs and the winner took it all.
Tonight's encounter kicked off with the National anthem of the competing nations. From the moment the first whistle of the game was blown, Nigeria struggled to keep the Ivorians off their backline. Ivory Coast had legs all over Nigeria's half and they were making really good attempts to break Nigeria's defense. It worked at several points, but Nigeria's shot-stopper had his eyes on the game.
Things became wild after the first 20 minutes. The officiating of the game was filled with controversy. At some point, the players started to get on each other's necks. The scuffle intensified after each one until it became obvious that this wouldn't be a friendly encounter between both sides. Nigeria's Coach also got booked amid the drama. Yeah! It was that serious.
Throughout the first half, it felt like Nigeria was afraid of having the ball. Our midfield was inexistent and our wingers were absent during our attacking build-up. Chukwueze and Iwobi didn't show any spark throughout the time they spent on the pitch.
Nigeria didn't have any attempt on target until the 38th minute of the game. We got our first attempt from a corner kick and Troost Ekong scored a bullet header from that. Wow! You would think getting a goal at that point would help reset the balance of the game in favor of Nigeria, but we started the second half the same way we played the first half.
It was boring and frustrating to watch, but it's the AFCON final. So, the poor performance would have been the least of our worries if Nigeria managed to keep things tight at the back. However, we failed to do that.
The Ivorians were relentless in their pressing. They pushed hard enough and got an equalizer in the 62nd minute of the game. They maintained the momentum and got another goal in the 81st minute. That's exactly how they claimed the win for themselves while Nigerians like myself who went to watch the game had to take the L.
Well, the International tournament can't take the backseat for now. All eyes are now on club football.
Thanks For Not Missing Any Full-stop or Comma.
Thumbnail Image is taken from Unsplash
Additional Image is a Screenshot taken from LiveScore.