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Nigeria makes 8th historic AFCON third place

(By: William D. Ezah, GNA Special Correspondent,
Cairo, Egypt, courtesy Stanbic Bank Ghana Limited)

Cairo, Egypt,
July 18, GNA –  Nigeria has won the third
place of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) a record eight times after beating
Tunisia by a lone goal in the third place match played at the 30
th June Stadium in Cairo.

Nigeria, who
have never lost a bronze medal match at the competition won it in 1976, 978,
1992, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2019, have also placed second 1984, 1988, 1990
and 2000.

It took Odion
Ighalo’s second minute goal, his fifth of the tournament, to hand the Super
Eagles the Total Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Egypt 2019 bronze medal on
Wednesday.

However, Ighalo
left the pitch in tears after he limped off after pulling hamstring as he raced
off a counter and tried to make a pass.

Ighalo, would
be gunning for the top scorer of the competition, should Sadio Mane or Adam
Ounas fail to score in the finals of the competition on Friday.

The Shanghai
Shenhua forward stretched his foot to nudge the ball home from a yard out after
Tunisia keeper Moez Ben Cherifia and his defender Yassine Meriah both clashed
as they threw themselves on the ground to try and cut out Collins Jamilu’s
cross from the left.

Nigeria, were
obviously the dominant side in the first half, but Tunisia started the second
half and came close to a goal just two minutes in when Khazri sent substitute
Firas Chaouat through, but the striker hit the side netting facing Francis
Uzoho one on one.

Chukwueze came
close to doubling Nigeria’s advantage when he picked up the ball at the edge of
the box but his curling effort was smothered behind for a corner by Ben
Chirifia.

With the game
advancing and the demanding nature of the tournament taking a toll on the
players, the pace of the game drastically dropped with chances few and far in
between.

Substitute
Samuel Kalu provided some late flashes of brilliance late in the game barely a
minute after his introduction with two brilliant freekicks, both of which were
saved by Ben Cherifia.

Nigeria now
holds a record of the highest winner of the third place in the competition.

GNA

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