Many Nigerians prayed for a shock defeat for Algeria. It's a bitter truth that Algeria is the best team in the Africa cup of nations. They conceded just one goal and that was in the quarter finals against Ivory Coast while scoring 10.
The urgency in their play, the tactical nous of their head coach, and the technicality of their players makes them a favourite from the onset. Senegal have not been convincing and struggle to win matches where they are expected to win comfortably. This is not the case with the Desert foxes of Algeria. They are devastating and will rip any defense apart.
Ivory coast were lucky not to lose in regular time. They were outplayed and relied only on counter attacks.
Nigeria have been battling with defensive issues ever since they conceded 2 goals against Madagascar. They have now conceded 5 goals in 3 matches, 2 against Cameroon and 1 against South Africa. It shows that there is something wrong with the Super Eagles defensively. Head coach Rohr do get confused when trying to find the perfect pairing at the back. Leon Balogun, Ekong, and Omeruo suddenly became error prone.
If they continue their horror defending, the Algeria team will be 2-3 goals up at half time. The good news is the coming back of Collins and hopefully he can reduce the influence of Riyad Mahrez.
Upfront, the Super Eagles have profited from some poor defending. Chukwueze is the only light upfront for the Nigeria team. Leading goalscorer Odion Ighalo has been inconsistent. He was shit against the Bafana Bafana and thanks to the late error from the goalkeeper, Nigeria got their winning goal.
The Super Eagles need to step up of they hope of reaching the final. Algeria are ready to devour the Eagles.
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