The Super Eagles of Nigeria were on Sunday humiliated 0-2 by the Barea of Madagascar in their last group game at the ongoing African Cup of Nations (AFCON) holding in Egypt.
Ranked 108th team in the world and tagged as ‘underdogs’ before the game, the East Africans held their own in the tension-soaked encounter, netting in their first goal 13 minutes from kick-off through Lalaina Nomenjanahary who took advantage of Leon Balogun‘s defensive blunder on John Ogu‘s 12th-minute back pass, to boost their confidence ahead of what turned out to be a cracker at the stadium in Alexandria.
Despite fighting hard to retain their rating as favourites to top Group B, Gernot Rohr Boys failed to overcome humiliation on the night, as their woes were further compounded when midfielder Wilfred Ndidi deflected Carolus Andriamahitsinoro‘s 53rd minute set piece to seal victory and go into the second round of the competition for the first time in their history.
Madagascar took three points against Nigeria in the final group stage game of Group B, as they booked their first ever last 16 ticket.
Full album: https://t.co/kdXvLyQymj#TotalAFCON2019 pic.twitter.com/JZDQVIFy1w
— CAF (@CAF_Online) June 30, 2019
The three-time AFCON winners therefore finished second in Group B, just behind the Malagasy who shocked the continent by garnering 7 out of the 9 possible points available from the group games and progressing to the knockout round of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) organised tournament unbeaten.
STATS | Check out the full-time stats! Which team had the better overall performance? #TotalAFCON2019 #MADNGA pic.twitter.com/dAHNhTV4BZ
— CAF (@CAF_Online) June 30, 2019
In the other Group B game, fellow Debutants, The Swallows in Battle of Burundi ended their run in the tournament after a 0-2 loss to the Syli National of Guinea; confirming that they lost all their matches and left from the group stage without scoring a single goal.
See final group ranking below:
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Group B concluded today with Madagascar and @NGSuperEagles qualifying as first and second, while Guinea awaits results from other groups to confirm qualification or elimination.#TotalAFCON2019 pic.twitter.com/FkqQdQnT3q
— CAF (@CAF_Online) June 30, 2019
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