Nigeria 1 - 0 Angola; Calvin Bassey won his defensive battles, again.

We Nigerians have a lot of reason to be bitter about the state of affairs in our country. The economy is a big mess and the struggle for survival is becoming tougher with each passing day. Insufficient electricity supply and a whole lot of other things are also smacking us hard. However, this is a post to highlight any of those things.

We are talking football right now and the latest happening from the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) ground is that the Super Eagles of Nigeria just passed through an interesting quarter-final battle with Angola. Yeah! We passed the test with flying colors.

Nigeria 1 - 0 Angola

Yeah! Nigeria just made it to the semi-final of AFCON. The group games we played were quite annoying and I wasn't satisfied with the performance of the boys. They felt shaky in midfield, blunt in attack and the transition from midfield to attack lacked fluidity. However, in the game they played tonight, they looked like a completely different squad.

I don't hesitate to get under their skin when they shit the bed. In the same manner, I've got to give them flowers when due and they sure deserve some flowers for qualifying for the semi-final of this intense tournament. They made themselves proud and Nigerians have reasons to rejoice.

The above screenshot shows some notable events that played out during the game. I will use the rest of the post to dig deeper and highlight some stuff that is worth taking note of in this game.

The first and only goal of the game is a very sumptuous one. Moses Simon is the one who led the attack on that one. He was swift and aggressive enough to beat the Angolan defender who also challenged for the ball. He immediately pressed forward and laid out a pass into the box. Ademola Lookman buried that with an awesome finish. You can only imagine how electrifying it felt to celebrate that goal with other Nigerians in the viewing center. I felt alive.

Calvin Bassey is one of the lads in this Nigerian team who have been very important to the progress we've achieved so far in this challenge. The left-back is a gem and I like how he's allowed to transition into midfield when Nigeria is attacking. He ate up the midfield in today's game and I'm always confident whenever he's dealing with a 1v1 in his defensive position.

Nigeria's defense has been legit throughout this tournament. We've only conceded a goal in the tournament so far. That says a lot about the legs we have in our defensive line. The goalkeeping department has been making everyone restless. We've suffered a lot in International Tournaments because of poor goalkeeping. However, we seem to have a gem in Stanley Nwabili, the new Goalkeeper in the squad.

I feel gutted for our star boy, Victor Osimeh. He finally got his first goal of the tournament in today's goal. Sadly, the goal got disallowed for offside after a VAR check. He still had a very good goal-scoring opportunity after that. But, he pulled a bottle job. He would have himself to blame for missing that golden opportunity.

The last 25 minutes of the game was a very calm one for Nigeria. They managed the game nicely, attacking when needed and defending when called for. It was a smooth win for us and all eyes are already on our next game of the tournament.

Congratulations to the lads and my fellow Nigerians. We go again on next week's Wednesday 🇳🇬.

Thanks For Not Missing Any Full-stop or Comma.
_{Thumbnail Image is taken from Unsplash
Additional Image is a screenshot taken from LiveScore}

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