Nigerian Super Eagles wins AFCON 2013

Nigerian national football team, Super Eagles won the African Nations' Cup 2013 for the third time, having won in 1980 and in 1994. Nigeria won 1-0 against Burkina-Faso who was featuring for the first time in an AFCON final. Sunday Mba scored a magnificent winner as the dominant Super Eagles made the breakthrough just before half-time when Mba clipped the ball over Mohamed Koffi and then volleyed into the far corner. Although the Burkinabes tried to get the game on, they were unable to match the super power of the Super Eagles.

Despise not an humble beginning 

The Nigerians started the competition on a sour note and they were unable to keep their leads in the first group matches against the same Burkina-Faso and Zambia while it took two goals from Victor Moses in the last 10-minutes of the game against Ethiopia for Nigeria to qualify for the quarter final. But they improved their game ever since, displacing the tournament favourite, Ivory Coast in an entertaining game that ended 2-1 in their favour. Sunday Mba also scored the winner, Ivory Coast having canceled the lead through Emmanuel Emenike's strike in the 23rd mins. The match against Mali was the peak of the Super Eagles' performance, beating the third place team 4 goals to 1, a match described by the Malian goalkeeper Mamadou Samassa as a game against the Brazil and not Nigeria. From humble beginning and an underdog, the Nigerian team has taken over African football once again. But like the Head Coach, Stephen Keshi said, this is just the beggining. The team must be able to hold on to the African Championship for some time.