The Eagles Soar Higher Above the Pharaohs- AFCON'21

It was a well-anticipated match between the Super Eagles of Nigeria and the Pharaohs of Egypt in the opening game of group D of the 2021 African Cup of Nations. A game that kicked off at 4 pm African time, a tie expected to be a very tight one, well does it really end up a tight one? Maybe.

Undoubtedly, the super eagles of Nigeria enjoyed both halves of the game with many and brilliant chances. These two teams can be considered one of the favourite contenders of the AFCON'21 with the West African nation (Nigeria) looking forward to extending their crown to 4 while the North African (Egypt) seems to aim at extending theirs to 8, and note that, they have won it more than any of the rest of the continent's team.

There is a twist in the analysis which reports the Pharaohs as the dominating side of both halves in terms of ball possession but the truth is that the Eagles have the ball the most and penetrated the opponent's goal area the most. The Nigerian left-winger, Moses Simon was a big threat in the game who has enjoyed disturbing the Egyptian defense to produce numerous crosses into the box.

One of the efforts of Moses was a great delivery into the opponent's box at 30 mins, which was headed back before a pass came through to Kelechi Iheanacho as the Leicester City's man scored a screamer. According to Jay Jay Okocha analysis during the half time, he believed there were too many concentrations on Moses Simon which left a loophole in the box and that enabled Kelechi Iheanacho to get enough space to perform his magic.

The Liverpool man, Mohammed Salah was kept silent by the Eagles with not much performance from him, Salah nearly managed to have a goal in the second half but the weak effort which was tending towards goal was narrowly saved by the Nigerian goalkeeper, Okoye. The likes of Taiwo Awoniyi at the attack for the Eagles was great who nearly had a goal in the second half when his header was parried to the crossbar. The defense of the Eagles which comprises of William Troost-Ekong, Omeruo (later substituted because of Injury) and others, did a great job to silent the Egyptian attack.

The Egyptians had a few chances and pressurized in the second half but it was not enough, the introduction of Zizo to the Pharaoh's side in the second half brought a change to their attack as he has many threatening crosses delivered into the Eagles box, unfortunately, none was enough. The game ended with Nigeria having 1 and the Egyptian side 0. This means Nigeria is on the top of group D as it stands.

The game between Sudan and Guinea-Bissau ended 0 - 0 at 90mins after the Guinea side missed a penalty in the 82nd minute when their player was brought down in the box by Sudan's goalkeeper. This keeps the Nigerian side at the top of the table comfortably with 2 points lead. What do you think about the game (NIG - EGY)? Thanks for reading.