Afcon 2023: Nigeria 2-0 Cameroon – Super Eagles advance to quarter-finals thanks to Ademola Lookman double

Nigeria advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2023 African Cup of Nations with a 2-0 victory over disappointing Cameroon in the last 16 in Abidjan, with Ademola Lookman scoring twice.

Former England Under-21 forward Lookman made one of the best moves of the game in the 90th minute when he volleyed home's Calvin Bassey's cut-back to seal the win and spark huge celebrations between the three-time champions. caused a stir.

Despite losing their top scorer in the 2021 tournament, Vincent Abubakar, who made a belated debut after sustaining a muscular injury on the eve of the final, Cameroon failed to get a shot on target.

The Super Eagles will play against Angola. The players who achieved a 3-0 victory against Namibia were: Friday's final eight will also take place at the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Stadium.

Cameroon coach Rigoberto Song will face serious pressure when he returns to his home country following recent failures that saw them exit the 2022 World Cup in the group stage.

Cameroon Football Federation president Samuel Eto'o, watching from the stands, will have to decide whether to retain or fire his former teammate.

The Indomitable Lions, playing in the same stadium where they won the first of the Five Continents when they defeated Nigeria in the 1984 final, looked disjointed throughout, as they had for much of the tournament.

Cameroon have seen off West Africans in the Nations Cup finals three times, but the Super Eagles often have an advantage when they meet early.

Nigeria's victory over their rivals was, unsurprisingly, their second win in the last three competitions against Cameroon at this stage of the tournament. In 2019, they won 3-2 against Egypt.

Super Eagles win in Abidjan

Matches between the African giants were often grueling and with Cameroon unable to show any cohesiveness, it was left to a determined Nigeria to take the game to their opponents with vigor.

The Super Eagles thought they had taken the lead after just nine minutes when defender Semi Ajayi fired home, but the goal was ruled out for offside after a brilliant point by the video assistant referee.

Despite this, television cameras were often trained on Manchester United goalkeeper Onana, as Ondore twice failed to evade danger with his punches. Onana played for his club on the eve of Cameroon's opening match before jetting off to Ivory Coast on a private jet. Once in the finals.

The first goal came after Gonzalez was hit off the ball by the excellent Osimhen. Osimhen worked tirelessly throughout, playing with Lookman and finishing low under Ondoa's body.

Despite the lack of a goal threat, Son's only tactical change was to bring on Abubakar in the closing stages as the game became unbalanced.

However, the striker, who scored the winning goal in the 2017 Nations Cup final and scored eight goals in the competition two years ago, struggled to get into the game in his first appearance since injury.

Instead, Nigeria took the lead in the closing stages as Lookman teed up Ola Aina and his shot from close range was denied by a smart block from Nouho Toro, one of the few Cameroonians to impress on the night. There was a possibility of doubling it.

The former Everton and Leicester City lookman had his most productive game in a Nigeria shirt when Fulham's Alex Iwobi fed club colleague Bassey, whose cross the free forward beat Ondoa to once again After that, he secured victory at the last minute.

Nigeria are happy to have won such a difficult fixture on paper, but the injury to goalkeeper Stanley Nwabari will be a concern.

He collided with Georges-Kevin Nkudu, who was ordered to make a reckless challenge, and in the second half he felt uncomfortable landing and was carried away on a stretcher.

Son's coaching credentials have come under intense scrutiny after he failed repeatedly as Cameroon's manager, losing in the group stages of the 2018 African Nations Championship, the 2019 U-23 Afcon and the Qatar World Cup. , many feel his time is over.

The only question is not if, but when, the ax will finally fall on the defiant 47-year-old, who won two Afcon titles as an Indomitable Lions player.

“I'm a fighter. I like difficult decisions,” Son said.

“I have a contract. Now I have time to rest and I will think it over before making a decision.”