Nigeria finished the 2019 AFCON with the bronze after a drab 1-0 win over Algeria at the Al Salam stadium on Wednesday.
Odin Ighalo’s third minute goal secured the victory for Gernot Rohr, who also won his first AFCON medal after three attempts.
Although the consensus is that the team underachieved, Nigeria’s eight third-placed victory in eight attempts not a consolation, the team’s overall performance came with a few interesting footnotes.
He’s a quick look at four interesting facts about the Eagles’ AFCON 2019 show:
1. Every member of the 23-man squad was given minutes in the competition.
Gernot Rohr handed every member of the squad minutes, as he promised before the tournament.
2. Odion Ighalo scored Nigeria’s first goal in the competition and also the last.
The forward came off the bench in the first game against Burundi and scored four minutes after his introduction.
On Wednesday, he scored the only goal of Nigeria’s third place match against Tunisia; three minutes into the game, it was his fifth of the competition.
3. Oghenekaro Etebo was the only player who featured in all the games and played every minute (630 minutes) in the competition for the Eagles.
The midfielder played all seven games and 630 minutes of regulation time; the only player in the Eagles team during the competition with the most minutes for the team.
4. Francis Uzoho was the only Nigerian goalkeeper who did not concede a goal.
The young goalkeeper was the team’s third choice and got his moment under the “floodlights” for the first time in Egypt in the team’s last game.
Uzoho kept a clean sheet in the 90 minutes against the Carthage Eagles and made just one save.
The post Etebo’s durability, Ighalo’s Touch… fun facts from Super Eagles’ AFCON 2019 campaign appeared first onCornerstone News Nigeria.
