For the first time since 2000, the Super Eagles of Nigeria will be appearing in the finals of the Africa Nations Cup after walloping the Eagles of Mali 4-1 in a semi-final match played at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Wednesday evening. The Nigerians were dominant from start to finish and got their goals through Elderson Echiejile, Brown Ideye, Emmanuel Emenike and Ahmed Musa before Fantamady Diarra got a consolation for Mali.
Nigeria settled the quicker of the two teams, though it was Mali who threatened an early goal when Molla Wague’s header from a corner kick flashed just wide of the target in the 12th minute, while Momo Sissoko shot just over the top from long range less than 60 seconds later.
The Super Eagles opened the scoring on 25 minutes thanks to some great play down the right flank by Victor Moses. The Chelsea attacker twisted and turned his way past left fullback Adama Tamboura before providing a low cross that Elderson Echiejile turned into the net with a diving header thanks poor marking by the Malian defence.
Just five minutes later it was 2-0, with Nigeria again penetrating down the right flank. This time it was Emenike who provided a low cross that was turned into the net by Brown Ideye from close range.
Just before half time, Nigeria received a big slice of luck to help rack up their third goal. A free kick was teed up for Emenike to strike – his effort was directed low and hard at the wall, but ricocheted off the legs of Sissoko, completely wrong-footing the goalkeeper and finding its way into the back of the net. Emenike now leads the AFCON 2013 top scorers’ charts.
It was a similar story after the break with Stephen Keshi’s side continuing their dominance and they were paid in the 60th minute when they went 4-0 up through second half substitute Ahmed Musa who beat the offside trap to put the icing on the cake.
At this moment, it was Nigeria all over the Eagles of Mali but three minutes later Cheick Diabate set-up fellow substitute Fantamady Diarra to at least put Mali on the score sheet at 4-1. The win means that Nigeria will make their first appearance in the finals of Africa’s biggest soccer show piece since 2000 when they lost to Cameroun on home soil. For Mali, they have again failed to break the semi-final jinx having last reached the finals in 1972.
