Leadership (Abuja)
Salifu Usman
30 January 2008
Ghana — Nigeria's Super Eagles, yesterday in Sekondi, squeezed themselves into the quarter-finals of the on going Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana, with a hard fighting 2-0 win over their Benin counterpart. A comprehensive win by Cote d'Ivoire saw Mali leave the tournament empty-handed, despite their previous good work.
Under-fire Super Eagles German handler, Berti Vogts changed his starting line-up this time by peering Getafe's forward, Ikechukwu Uche and John Utaka up front, with Mikel Obi and Yakubu Aiyegbeni as support in the must- win match.
Even as the Super Eagles dominated the early possession of the game, and looked dangerous on the break, the well coordinated Benin defense stood firm and the first half ended goalless. But when the news filtered in that Ivory Coast had taken a lead in the other match against Mali, Super Eagles resumed the second half with full determination and opened the score just six minutes into the second half through Chelsea midfielder, John Obi Mikel with a header from Osaze Odemwingie's pass.
Mikel then set Yakubu Aiyegbeni up to calmly slot the Super Eagles' second goal in the 86th minute to throw all Nigerian fans into jubilation.
Similarly, Didier Drogba's marked his 50th international cap with a goal, in the 3-0 win against Mali. This saw the Ivoriens finishing top of the Group B table with nine points from three matches and they will take on Group A runners-up, Guinea in the quarter-finals.
While Nigeria,who finished second in group B with four points will renew their West African rivalry with Ghana in the first quarter-finals of the tournament on Sunday, February 3rd in Accra.
The last both teams met in a friendly match, Ghana ran away with a 4-1 victory.
The Super Eagles' victory means they have edged past Mali on goal difference to set up an enticing last-eight tie with hosts and west-coast rivals Ghana.
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