Nigeria vs Cameroon: Super Eagles dominate indomitable Lions to set up Angola showdown in AFCON 2023 quarterfinal

Nigeria's Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen against Cameroon | X/@CAF_Online

FOOTBALL Nigeria vs Cameroon: Super Eagles dominate indomitable Lions to set up Angola showdown in AFCON 2023 quarterfinal

Nigeria vs Cameroon: Super Eagles dominate indomitable Lions to set up Angola showdown in AFCON 2023 quarterfinal

Ayoola Kelechi • 23:10 - 27.01.2024

The Super Eagles overcame their archrivals, Cameroon, to claim a famous win and advance to the quarterfinal against Angola

Nigeria’s Super Eagles secured a famous win over arch rivals Cameroon after overcoming fierce rivals Cameroon in a superb 2-0 win to send them into the quarterfinals. 

Atalanta forward Ademola Lookman struck a deserved double to give the Super Eagles a comfortable win over Cameroon who rarely threatened the Nigerian goal. 

Despite the win, Nigeria will be worried about the fitness of goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali, who was taken off injured after a collision mid-game. 

How it happened

Nigeria thought they had taken the lead after Semi Ajayi muscled the ball over the line but the goal was ruled out after a VAR check showed that the West Brom defender was behind the goalkeeper and offside. 

The Super Eagles overcame the disappointment of having a goal ruled out and deservedly took the lead when Ademola Lookman profited from some incredible industry from Victor Osimhen to score a scrappy goal that came off the goalkeeper before trickling over the line for 1-0. 

var widgetLoaderConfig = widgetLoaderConfig || { CDN_URL: 'https://widgets.sportal365.com', APP_LINK: 'desktop', API_URL: 'https://africa.football.api.sportal365.com/', API_KEY: '2f852b4de2f3a5cf3188e74b33087bb4:2c18422f8e826a7d11aeed52edb2449e', LANG: 'en', REQUEST_INTERVAL: 30, ENABLE_BET_SLIP: false, AUTHOR: false, THEME: "light", TOURNAMENT_ORDER: "pulse_nigeria", LINK_OPTIONS_V2: { 'player' : { 'url': '/football/player/{playerId}' }, 'team' : { 'url': '/football/{teamId}' }, 'tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}' }, 'match': { 'url' : '/football/match/{matchId}', 'sort': { 'criteria': 'alphabetically', 'direction': 'asc' } }, 'configuration': { 'newWindow': false }, 'standings_tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}/standings' } } }; if (!document.querySelector('script[src="https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js"]')) { window.setTimeout(function () { let scriptCss = document.createElement('link'); scriptCss.href = 'https://www.pulsesports.ng/css/sport-widgets.css?v=1668785443'; scriptCss.rel = 'stylesheet'; scriptCss.type = 'text/css'; document.body.appendChild(scriptCss); let scriptTag = document.createElement('script'); scriptTag.src = 'https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js'; scriptTag.defer = true; scriptTag.onload = function () { window.setTimeout(function () { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }, 200); }; document.head.appendChild(scriptTag); }, 0); } else { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }

Nigeria went into the half-time break ahead and held their own in the second half against a dogged Cameroonian side. 

Try as they did, Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions were unable to find a clear opening on goal as the Super Eagles defended in a supreme back three that gave the Indomitable Lions little to work with. 

Iwobi had the chance to seal the win late in the second half after a brilliant counter attack by the Super Eagles, but failed to find the back of the net with a clear chance. 

Nigeria suffered a moment of major worry midway through the second half as first choice goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali was forced off with an injury following an unfortunate collision with Cameroon’s Georges-Kévin N'Koudou. Nwabali was replaced by Francis Uzoho for the remaining 13 minutes of the match. 

The Fulham midfielder made up for the miss by playing a big part for the Super Eagles’ second goal playing a superb through pass for Calvin Bassey who found Lookman in the box for his second goal of the game. 

Nigeria’s win over Cameroon sets them up with an interesting quarterfinal tie against surprise packages Angola. 

Related content

Tags:
Nigeria Cameroon Africa Cup of Nations AFCON 2023