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| The Nigeria team celebrate their first AFCON win for nineteen years. |
Nigeria secured their third African Cup of Nations title as
midfielder Sunday Mba scored a fine winner against a battling Burkina Faso side
in Johannesburg.
Mba volleyed home the only goal of the game in the 40th
minute to give the Super Eagles their first AFCON trophy for 19 years.
Nigeria head-coach
Stephen Keshi becomes only the second individual ever to have won the
competition as a player and as a manager after he skippered the country to
victory in 1994.
Burkina Faso struggled to
form any real chances throughout the match, but brilliantly surpassed any
pre-tournament expectations by reaching the final, especially as the country
had never previously won a game at the competition.
They also boasted player
of the tournament Jonathan Pitroipa as the Stade Rennais winger made several
headlines during his time in South Africa. He was a doubt to even play against
Nigeria after picking up a red card for diving during the semi final versus
Ghana, but officials rescinded the booking after Tunisian referee Slim Jdidi
was adjudged to have got the decision completely wrong.
The limelight though
belonged to Nigeria as they celebrated with the trophy at the FNB Stadium
earlier this evening. After eliminating favourites the Ivory Coast, few would
argue that they were deserved eventual winners. Chelsea duo John Obi Mikel and
Victor Moses were hugely influential in their side’s run to the final and
vindicated the manager’s shock decision to leave out more experienced stars
such as Obafemi Martins and Peter Odemwingie.
The final rounded off a
tournament held in South Africa that unfortunately placed spotlight on a series
of poor refereeing decisions and below-par playing surfaces. That didn’t
however dampen the spirits of victorious coach Keshi, as he told reporters "this is mainly for my nation. When I
came on board a year and a half ago, my dream was to make all Nigerians
happy".
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