Oluwasegun Noah, Cape Town
Super Eagles of Nigeria redeemed their image by emerging the winner of the third place match between Nigeria and Zimbabwe with a lone goal scored in the 85th minute by Chinonso Obiozor.
The third place win gives Nigeria a decent debut in the Africa Nations Championship.
The game was decided at the Cape Town Stadium, South Africa on Saturday.
Nigeria’s Coach Stephen Keshi made two changes in the match, bringing in Sharks Football Club wing attacker, Dumte Pyagbara, to start in place of Ejike Uzeonyi, while Chinonso Obiosor of Rangers was also preferred to start in place of Ifeanyi Ede of Enyimba.
First half of the encounter however ended scoreless as the two sides could not score.
But the Nigerian side enjoyed 64 per cent ball possession while the Zimbabweans had 36 per cent.
The highlight of the half was a deserving red card shown to Zimbabwe’s player, Masimba Mambare, in the 17th minute for a dangerous neck kick on Eagles Captain Agbim, while top striker for the side, Simba Sithole, was also cautioned in the added time of the first half for simulation (diving) in Eagles box.
All efforts by Ibrahim, Pyagbara and Obiozor to break the defence network of the Zimbabweans proved abortive as the team’s dreadlocked defensive midfielder, Peter Moyo, combined well with the other defenders in his team to thwart all the attacking forays of the Nigerian team.