Nigeria made it full mark, after beating Guinea-Bissau 2-0 in the third and final round of Group D of the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon 2021, thus breaking the dream of Djurtus moving forward in the competition. The Nigerians, who had already guaranteed their presence in the round of 16 in previous rounds, finish the group stage with 9 points.
Guinea Bissau entered this round with one point, as a result of draw with Sudan, having lost the second match 1-0 to Egypt. Nigeria, already qualified, with six points (another victory was 3-1 against Sudan).
Without goals and with a game without much intensity, the Super Eagles from Nigeria and the Djurtus from Guinea-Bissau played a first half characterized by a lot of physical contact and some stoppages, which made the game lukewarm.
In fact, the biggest pressure was on Guinea Bissau, since only victory was important to guarantee their permanence in the competition, which didn’t apply to Nigeria, who entered this duel with their passage to the next phase already guaranteed.
Both teams were stuck to their tactical systems and only created sporadic goalscoring situations. Nigeria had three chances to open the scoring, but they lacked objectivity in their attempts at goal.
The most noteworthy chance registered by Guinea Bissau came with a minute to go in the first half, when the striker fired a shot from the edge of the penalty area, but the ball flew over the goal.
Nigeria had to wait 56 minutes to get a goal. A combined counter-attacking move led to a goal from striker Sadiq Umar, who successfully finished off a pass from Kelechi Iheanacho.
Nigeria captain, William Ekong scored in the 74th minute to give his team a convincing win.
Nigeria qualified on nine points, the only wide to have maximum tally in the group stage.
Source: CAF