The Nigerian Super Eagles will will now meet arch nemesis the Bafana Bafana of south Africa. The South African golden boys progressed to the next round when Thembinkosi Lorch scored the winner for South Africa in their shock 1-0 victory over Egypt in the Africa Cup of Nations. Lorch struck following a counterattack with just five minutes remaining to silence a crowd of 75,000 at the Cairo International Stadium. The hosts were the favourites to win the competition, with Liverpool’s Mo Salah in sparkling form during their opening matches. In contrast, South Africa qualified for the last 16 as the lowest-ranked of the four third-placed teams. However, they took the game to Egypt and were the more accomplished team over 90 minutes.

Algeria 2-1 Win Sends Nigeria Home

July 15, 2019 admin2 African Cup of nations, Nigeria Vs Algeria

Algeria 2-1 Nigeria: Riyad Mahrez’s sensational last-gasp free-kick sends Desert Foxes into Africa Cup of Nations final against Senegal—www.dailymail.co.uk

A late direct free-kick from Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez was enough to take Algeria through to Friday’s CAN 2019 final where they face Senegal at the Cairo International Stadium.

The Super Eagles had managed to claw themselves back into a tie via the penalty spot in a game where they were outclassed by the Desert Foxes for large spells before Real Betis defender Mandi handled in the area after a Etebo speculative drive.

The Zambian match official consulted VAR and it appears that any hand in the area, however innocuous, unintentional etc is now deemed to be worthy of a spot kick. Ighalo dispatched the penalty and gave some hope to a Nigeria side lacking creative sparkle up until that point.

Ultimately, a moment of genius from the City player in time added on at the end of the action was to dictate the outcome with a free-kick that Lionel Messi would have been proud of.

Riyad Mahrez curled in an injury-time free-kick to send Algeria through to the Africa Cup of Nations final in a 2-1 victory against Nigeria.

The game had looked to be heading to extra time as the two teams battled for the right to play Senegal in Friday’s showpiece, but Manchester City midfielder Mahrez won it for Algeria late on.

Algeria went ahead courtesy of a first-half own goal by William Troost-Ekong, with the Udinese central defender turning a Mahrez cross into his own net.