Super Eagles chalk up their first win in ongoing Nations Cup with 1-0 victory over Burundi

NIGERIA'S Super Eagles have got their African Cup of Nations campaign off to a winning start with a 1-0 victory over debutants Burundi thanks to a second half goal from substitute Odion Ighalo.

In the match which took place at Egypt's Alexandria Stadium this afternoon, Nigeria managed to grab all three points in their Group B opener after a tentative start. During the first half, the Burundians kept Nigeria at bay, preventing the Eagles from having any shots on goal and even created a few major scares of their own.

Clearly, Super eagles head coach Gernot Rohr did not start with his strongest team as apart from the jittery Daniel Akpeyi in goal, Mikel was out of sorts playing as a playmaker and targetman Paul Onuachi appeared out of his depth. It was not until the second half when Musa came on for Mikel and Ighalo replaced Onuachi that the team started playing with fluency and pace.

All evening, the two wide men Alex Iwobi and Samuel Chukwueze tormented the Burundian defence but due to lack of cohesion, their efforts came to naught. However, with the introduction of Ighalo, the Eagles got a breakthrough in the 75th minute after he slotted home a brilliant backheel from fullback Ola Aina, who had a superb game.

Immediately after Nigeria took the lead, the calamitous Akpeyi nearly gifted the Burundians an equaliser by dropping an innocuous cross. However, fortunately, the Eagles defence managed to clear the ball and keep a clean sheet to hold on for their first win.

Later on this evening, the second game in Group B will kick off with Madagascar facing Guinea, Nigeria's next opponents. Nigeria is now one of the favourites to qualify from the group under the new format that will see the top two teams go through to the knockout stages alongside the four best third placed teams.