Nigeria claim eighth bronze medal at Afcon

Nigeria have finished third for the eighth time at the African Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournament after beating Tunisia 1-0 in a third and fourth play-off match at Al Salam Stadium in Cairo, Egypt on Wednesday night.

Predatory striker and the tournament’s leading goal scorer Odion Ighalo scored his fifth goal of the tournament as early as the third minute.

The Super Eagles were playing in their eighth bronze match at the Afcon after having lost to Algeria 2-1 in the semifinals.

Head Coach Gernot Rohr Gernot says he comes a long way with the Tunisian national team coach Alain Giresse and is happy to have finally beaten him at the Afcon.

The Super Eagles played six matches in this tournament, won four and lost two.

Rohr is predicting a bright future for Nigerian football after managing to field all the 23 players in the squad.

William Kroost-Ekong, scorer of the winning goal against Bafana Bafana in the last eight, also got a Man of the Match award on Wednesday night.

He scored the winner against Bafana in the last eight and scored the own goal against Algeria, The Udinese defender reflects on his Afcon 2019.

It hasn’t been an easy tournament for the Super Eagles. This was their first appearance at the Afcon since 2013 when they won it in South Africa under the late Stephen “The Big Boss” Keshi.

Rohr has praised the mental strength of this young team.

Scenes from the podium yesterday as the Naija #SuperEagles soared to their ?#TotalAFCON2019 pic.twitter.com/iCdCdJweyC

— CAF (@CAF_Online) July 18, 2019

– Report by Velile Mnyandu