William Troost-Ekong scored a second half penalty to hand Nigeria a 1-0 victory over host nation Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations in Abidjan.
Ten minutes into the second half at the Ebimpe Olympic Stadium in Abidjan, Captain Troost-Ekong of the Greek club PAOK scored from the spot after Victor Osimhen’s foul was flagged for a foul after a VAR check.
The Super Eagles began their AFCON bid with a 1-1 draw against Equatorial Guinea, but they held on to claim their first win in Group A in front of a wild crowd.
“Our team was better and for that we won, but Ivory Coast is a good team. They lost the match because that can happen,” said Nigeria coach Jose Peseiro, whose decision to play with three central defenders paid off.
“Today I said to my players it is normal that you score at least one goal, so if you don’t suffer a goal, you win.”
At the top of the section, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria are tied on four points, followed by Ivory Coast on three, and Guinea-Bissau is out after losing its first two games.
To guarantee a top-two finish, Nigeria only needs to avoid losing to Guinea-Bissau, which they previously lost to 4-2 to Equatorial Guinea.
There is room for error because the top four teams in each of the six groups will go to the round of 16, but Ivory Coast needs to defeat Equatorial Guinea in their final game on Monday to ensure advancement.
“A little detail, a penalty, which I wouldn’t call contentious but was just a little kick on the calf of Nigeria’s best player, is what meant we lost the game,” said Ivorian coach Jean-Louis Gasset.
“I have confidence in this team, but I know they are young and they are tender.
“We are going to win the match on Monday.”
49,517 fans attended this game, which was much larger than the crowd for the hosts’ opening game, which was controversial due to the large number of empty seats at the 60,000-seat stadium.
The Elephants are the first host country to lose an AFCON group stage match since Equatorial Guinea lost 1-0 to Zambia in 2012, despite the positive atmosphere.
In 2017, Gabon became the last host country to be eliminated in the first round after three draws.
Star forward Sebastien Haller of Ivory Coast is still out due to injury, and Nigeria started with a three-man central defence after Calvin Bassey of Fulham replaced the injured Alhassan Yusuf in midfield.
As three-time champions Nigeria were unable to muster a shot on target in the first half, Osimhen, the African footballer of the year, led the attack and blazed a fine chance over the bar early on.
Moments later, Stanley Nwabili of Ivory Coast denied Christian Kouame, and the Nigerian custodian also stopped a strong long-range effort by Seko Fofana.
Both teams’ performance in the last third was disappointing, and the game ultimately depended on the early second-half penalty call.
Following his capture by Ivorian defender Ousmane Diomande, Osimhen remained on the ground; the Algerian referee, having examined the pitchside monitor, awarded a spot-kick.
Defender Troost-Ekong stepped up to take the penalty, beating Yahia Fofana with a strong strike down the middle, just as he did in the 2022 World Cup qualifying play-off against Ghana.
Following that, Nigeria managed to hold on for nine extra minutes to win the first AFCON match between the two teams since a quarterfinal in 2013, the year they last won the trophy.
Photo by Gavin Barker/BackpagePix
