THE Super Eagles posted one of the best performances at the Morocco 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tonight to beat Algeria 2-0 in their quarter-final clash in Marrakesh.
With the dominant victory, the three-time African champions set up a blockbuster semi-final with hosts Morocco.
Victor Osimhen and Akor Adams netted the goals in the comfortable victory, but every single Super Eagles player was brilliant against the old foes, who stopped the Nigerians in the semi-finals at the 2019 AFCON in Egypt.
Despite it being one-way traffic for most of the first half, the Super Eagles were not able to break the deadlock, missing some glorious chances.
Osimhen went close but was stopped by a last-ditch tackle in the box, and Calvin Bassey’s effort off a free-kick was cleared off the line, although it could not be definitively determined if it was over the line or not since goal-line technology was not available.
The biggest miss of the match was from Adams, who in the 39th minute screwed the ball high and wide when one-on-one with goalkeeper Luca Zidane after the Sevilla striker was played clean through following an Algeria error.
The Super Eagles then got the goal their performance deserved two minutes into the second half, as Osimhen rose majestically high at the far post to head home Bruno Onyemaechi’s hanging cross.
It was the first goal Zidane, the son of the legendary Zinedine, had conceded in Morocco, but another soon followed.
Adams atoned for his big miss in the 57th minute, rounding Zidane and tapping into the empty net from Osimhen’s unselfish assist after Iwobi’s clever through ball breached the Algeria defence.
The Super Eagles could have even made it 3-0 after restricting Algeria to no shots on target, but Akor headed the ball against the upright from few yards out after Osimhen’s persistence set him up.
The semi-final clash against the hosts is scheduled for Wednesday in Rabat.