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Algeria 0-2 Nigeria: Osimhen and Adams strike to book AFCON semi-final spot
Nigeria will face Africa Cup of Nations hosts Morocco in the semi-finals on Wednesday, following a convincing victory over Algeria.
Victor Osimhen and Akor Adams were on target as Nigeria booked their place in the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations with a deserved 2-0 victory over Algeria. The Super Eagles will take on hosts Morocco for a place in the final on Wednesday, having produced an impressive display in Saturday`s last-eight encounter in Marrakech. Nigeria dominated the first half but somehow failed to take a lead into the interval. Adams had their best chance of the opening period, but he side-footed high and wide with only Luca Zidane in the Algeria goal to beat. Manchester City`s Rayan Ait-Nouri also made an excellent, last-ditch tackle to deny Osimhen, while Ademola Lookman worked Zidane. Calvin Bassey also saw a prodded attempt hooked away by Ramy Bensebaini, with a long VAR check required to ascertain that the ball had not crossed the line, with goal-line technology not in use at this edition of AFCON. But Algeria`s resistance was finally broken only 84 seconds into the second half as Bruno Onyemaechi hung up a cross to the far post, where Osimhen converted with a downward header. Osimhen was denied a second goal shortly afterwards, but he turned creator for Adams in the 57th minute, the Sevilla man calmly collecting his strike partner`s lay-off, rounding Zidane, then tapping into the unguarded net. Eric Chelle`s team had chances to add further gloss to their lead, but they ultimately had to settle for a 2-0 success as Adams somehow headed against the post when presented with an open goal. Data Debrief: Nigeria dominate en route to semis Nigeria have impressed so far at AFCON, taking maximum points from their group before thumping Mozambique 4-0 in the last 16, but this was their best display yet. The Super Eagles fired off 13 shots to Algeria`s three and also won the expected goals (xG) battle by a convincing 2.9 xG to 0.13 xG, not giving up a single shot on target. Algeria did not even register their first shot until the 80th minute, with this the first time on record (since 2010) that they have not managed a single attempt in the first half of an AFCON match. Nigeria, meanwhile, are only the second team to ever score two or more goals in their first five matches at a single edition of AFCON, after Egypt did so in 1974 and 2010.
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