While An Eagle is a king in the air and most times takes its battle into the atmosphere to render its prey or enemy powerless, The Fox is no easy animal to deceive with such antics and would prefer to invite the Eagle to a duel on the ground where it too stands a chance of using its claws. The Fox knows if it can clip the wings of the Eagle from flying during the fight, he is sure of emerging from the fight victorious. This is the tactics The Desert Foxes of Algeria employed to defeat the Super Eagles Of Nigeria in their Sunday AFCON semi final duel.
The most populous nation in Africa were thrown into tears on Sunday night, as the Desert Foxes of Algeria emerged the deserved winners from their African Nations Cup Semi Final encounter with the "Super" Eagles of Nigeria. What made it even more painful is that this defeat came when Nigerian hopes were high in the tournament and lots of match bonuses have been advanced from various quarters to boost their morale. One of such being the $75 thousand bonus on each goal scored by the Eagles from the semi final rounds, thanks to the Billionaires Aliko Dangote($50k) and Otedola($25k).
It was a battle that was won in seconds after more than an hour drama saw both sides wriggling in what was heading into an extra time. However, Algeria proved that even the lifeline extended to Nigeria by the warmth embrace of VAR in the second half would not be enough to save the three time champions from their claws. Rohr's side got one of their biggest shock of the tournament after Mahrez dutifully converted a late free kick with aplomb, beating the not so impressive Nigerian goalkeeper Akpeyi to send his side to the 2019 AFCON final.
Nothing is more painful than being a goal down with few seconds to go in the game of football, it's heartbreaking, tears provoking and traumatic. One just got no time to fight back and see if he can cause an upset or at least level the score, it's one of the worst stings in the game. In a night when Nigeria became the latest beneficiaries of VAR's saving arms, Mahrez stepped up to show why he is a leader of this Highflying Algerian side.
The Manchester City forward was on top of his game from the blast of the kickoff whistle to the point when he decided to end Nigeria's journey in the tournament. Mahrez made over 34 touches in the first half of the game more than any Nigerian player. It was one of his awesome efforts at the right flank that led to Ekong scoring an owngoal to put the Algerians 1-0 up before halftime. You just can't playdown the dread of this guy anytime, any day, and he thought Nigeria this lesson the hard way.
Rohr saw nothing wrong with the squad that defeated South Africa 2-1 at the quarter final round, hence, there was no modification to the team. Chukwueze was sure to start from the right flank against Algeria after being named man of the match against Bafana Bafana. The Villarreal forward had a good spell against Baxter's side, but this Algerian side proved more tasking than he thought. The Eagles attacking infantry could not exert heat on the Algerian back line to comfortably fly to the finals. The inability of Ahmed Musa, Ighalo, Iwobi and Chukwueze to link up and find a way past a solid Algerian defense made them pay at the tail end of normal time.
For me, the better team won the match. Belmadi's side showed more commitment and determination to win the game. They just didn't wanna experience the emotions that comes with penalty shootouts, it was not just in their plan. They had to wait for the right time to strike, exactly when the Super Eagles will not be able to fight back. It was at the 95th minute that Mahrez stole the show and booked a place in the final for his country against Senegal, winning Nigeria 2-1. Nigeria will now battle for third place against Tunisia for Third place, while Senegal go head to head against Algeria to decide who becomes the next king of African Football.
Comments