Nigeria shook not just Africa but football lovers all over the world when they won the Orange Africa cup of Nations in 2013, many wrote them off at the competition, but they gave us one of the most amazing football comebacks ever. The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations was held from the 19th of January to the 10th of February in 2013 and it was the 29th Africa Cup of Nations organized by the Confederation of African Football. One of the things that made this competition different from the previously organized ones was the fact that the tournament was switched from being held in odd-numbered years to even-numbers so it would not clash with the FIFA World Cup. Nigeria coming from having won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1980 and 1994 to losing in 1984, 1988, 1990, 2000 and not qualifying in 2012 had a lot of odds stacked against them, with many looking towards supporting other African teams.
Nigeria entered the competition with their star footballer turned coach, Stephen Keshi who came with his vibrant and eager players, this to many football enthusiasts was crucial to their winning the tournament. The team included home-based players such as Sunday Mba, Victor Moses, Emmanuel Emenike, John Mikel Obi, Uwa Elderson Echiejile amongst others. After having had a 1-1 draw with Burkina Faso, the same score with Zambia, their luck turned to win a 2-0 in their competition with Ethiopia. Since then, the winning streak continued after they won 2-1 with Ivory Coast, and then 4-1 with Mali, and from then, it all balled down to how they would perform with Burkina Faso. For the match, Chelsea teammates, John Obi Mikel, and Victor Moses, Sunday Mba, Ejike Uzoenyi were the forwards alongside Ikechukwu Uche, Ahmed Musa, Brown Ideye and Emmanuel Emenike. In the defence was captain Joseph Yobo, Efe Ambrose, Elderson Echiejile, Juwon Oshaniwa, Chigozie Agbim, defenders Azubuike Egwueke, Godfrey Oboabona, Kenneth Omeruo.
The midfielders were Obiorah Nwankwo, Ogenyi Onazi, Nosa Igiebor, Reuben Gabriel and Fegor Ogude as well as goalkeepers Vincent Enyeama and Austin Ejide. The match between the two teams was extremely tight, with Nigeria narrowly winning the competition. Despite different opportunities for Nigeria to score more during the match, all efforts were quelled by their strong counterpart. During the early part of the match, there were openings for Victor Moses to net a ball with two other chances from Efe Ambrose and Brown Ideye with both shots missing the goalpost. 
Burkina Faso on the other hand during the first half of the match was solely focused on protecting their own territory, to which they failed in doing that at the 40th minute when Sunday Mba flicked the ball over Mohamed Koffi and netted it with his left foot. Although Nigeria had several opportunities to add some more goals, this goal became the sole goal at the match and it secured the country’s place as the champion of the Orange Africa Cup of Nation.
Photo Credit: KOKO TV Nigeria
