Benguela — Nigeria's Super Eagles secured the bronze medal at the African Cup of Nations taking place in Angola at the expense of the Desert Foxes of Algeria courtesy of a Victor Nsofor strike early in the second half of the third place match played yesterday in Benguela, Angola.

The only goal came after 56 minutes when the Malaga striker was played in by skipper Nwankwo Kanu in what was a low-key affair.

Under-fire Eagles' coach Shaibu Amodu made a host of changes heading into the game, leaving out the likes of John Obi Mikel, Obafemi Martins and Peter Odemwingie and handing Portsmouth striker Kanu a rare start.

His side looked the more attacking of the two and created the first opening in the ninth minute when Taye Taiwo's free-kick from the right to managed to pick out Nsofor, who directed his sweeping shot over the crossbar.

Seconds later the striker was again played in inside the six-yard box via a long ball from the back, but this time his shot was excellently blocked by Slimane Raho.

Algeria had a decent chance after 25 minutes when Karim Ziani threaded a pass through to Abdelkader Ghezzal, but his effort was charged down - this time Danny Shittu throwing his body in the way.

On the half-hour mark, the game finally saw its first shot on target - Kanu, who had a very decent game, cutting inside from the right and leaving his marker stranded before unleashing a powerful shot that was straight at Mohamed Zemmamouche.

The last action of the opening 45 minutes saw Almeria striker Uche put clean through on goal by Kanu, but he opted to seek out Nsofor instead of shooting from eight yards out with the with the goal gaping

The Super Eagles almost broke the deadlock straight from the restart when a Taiwo free-kick was only parried straight into the path of Nsofor by Zemmamouche, but the Nigerian fluffed the chance.

The goal finally arrived in the 56th minute when Kanu played the ball to Malaga striker Nsofor and his forceful run ended with a shot under the goalkeeper to put his side ahead.

Rabah Saadane's men tried to respond with Ziani teeing up Yebda on the edge of the box, but his shot was too comfortable for the Enyeama.

The Desert Foxes continued to pile on the pressure and created half-chances for the hard-working Ghezzal and Madjid Bougherra, but it was not enough to starve defeat for the South Africa 2010-bound North African team.

Meanwhile, TomTom, the Official Candy of the Nigerian national football teams, will reward the Super Eagles with $29,000 (about N4,92,000) for 29 shots on target which the team registered in all the six games of the 27th Africa Cup of Nations.

The final of the three-week tournament comes up this evening in Luande and is between defending champions, Egypt and Ghana.