William Troost-Ekong’s second-half penalty secured Nigeria a 1-0 win against Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations on Thursday, putting pressure on the host team, whose ambitions of reaching the last 16 remain in doubt.
Captain Troost-Ekong of Greek club PAOK scored from the penalty spot 10 minutes into the second half at Abidjan’s Ebimpe Olympic Stadium after a foul on Victor Osimhen was called for by VAR.
After starting their AFCON campaign with a 1-1 draw against Equatorial Guinea, the Super Eagles held on in front of a raucous crowd to secure their first Group A victory.
Those two teams are tied for first place in the section with four points each, with Ivory Coast second with three and Guinea-Bissau eliminated after losing both games.
The fact that the four best third-placed teams in each of the six groups will all move to the round of 16, provides room for error, but Ivory Coast must now defeat Equatorial Guinea in their final encounter on Monday to ensure progression.
Meanwhile, Nigeria needs only avoid defeat against Guinea-Bissau, which was previously thrashed 4-2 by Equatorial Guinea, in order to finish in the top two.
The match was attended by 49,517 people, a far larger audience than for the hosts’ first game, when the number of empty seats at the 60,000-capacity venue sparked controversy.
Despite the favorable atmosphere, the Elephants became the first host nation to lose an AFCON group stage encounter since 2012, when Equatorial Guinea, co-hosts with Gabon at the time, lost 1-0 to Zambia.
Gabon was the last host nation to be eliminated in the first round, after three draws in 2017.
Ivory Coast were still missing star forward Sebastien Haller while he recovers from injury, and coach Jean-Louis Gasset made two changes to their starting lineup, bringing in Serge Aurier at right-back and Christian Kouame on the right wing.
Nigeria opened with a three-man central defence, with Fulham’s Calvin Bassey replacing the injured Alhassan Yusuf in midfield.
African footballer of the year Osimhen led the attack and blazed a beautiful chance over the crossbar early on, as three-time winners Nigeria failed to register a shot on goal in the first half.
Ivory Coast’s Stanley Nwabili denied Kouame moments later, and Nigeria’s goalkeeper also saved a spectacular long-range shot from Seko Fofana.
Both teams showed a dismal lack of talent in the last third, and the game finally came down to a penalty ruling early in the second half.
Osimhen remained in the area after being tackled by Ivorian defender Ousmane Diomande, and the Algerian referee awarded a penalty after consulting the pitchside monitor.
Defender Troost-Ekong took the penalty, just as he did in the 2022 World Cup qualifying play-off against Ghana, and beat Yahia Fofana with a powerful strike down the middle.
Nigeria won their first AFCON match since a quarter-final in 2013, when they last won the trophy.