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By Arinze Ude

Ideye, Moses and Mikel, gleeful, after a goal, against Mali. Credit: BBC

The Super Eagles of Nigeria thumped Mali four goals to one to qualify for the final at the 2013 African Cup of Nations in South Africa. Keshi is now one victory away from becoming only the second man in the tournament’s 56-year history to win it as a player and coach. The only person to have achieved the feat is Egyptian Mahmoud El Gohary, who won it in 1959 and 1998. Vincent Enyeama and the rest of the team showed the touch of class and won the game in spectacular fashion, scoring three goals in twenty minutes. The Super Eagles took the lead on twenty-five minutes through Braga defender, Elderson Echejile who raced into the Malian penalty box to head home the opener after a wonderful play by ever impressive Victor Moses. Five minutes later, Victor Moses released Emmanuel Emenike, who squared the ball to his strike partner, Brown Ideye to make it two. Emmanuel Emenike went from provider to scorer when his freekick deflected off Mohammed Sissoko in the Malian wall to make it three.

Echiejile (left) in awe, seeing his teammates in delight — after his goal. Credit: Reuters

The goal sees Emenike climb to the acme of the top scorer’s chart on four goals, alongside Ghana midfielder, Mubarak Wakaso. The Malians looked stunned and Nigeria took their three goal lead into the break. Mali, who famously came back from four goals down to draw four all against Angola in the opening game of the 2010 edition looked out of wits and answers to Nigeria’s assault. After the break, Ahmed Musa beat the offside trap to race onto a through ball from Mikel Obi to slot the ball under Mamadou Samassa in Malian goal. Musa had come on as a substitute for Nigeria’s most outstanding player, Victor Moses five minutes earlier. He thought he had grabbed a brace minutes later when he beat the defence again, only for the goal to be chalked off for offside. Mali grabbed a late consolation goal through Cheikh Diarra but it was too little too late to stage a comeback and the Super Eagles held on to qualify for their first final appearance in 13years. Mali had to settle for third place play-off for the second time – consecutively, and they will take on the Black Stars of Ghana, who lost to Burkina Faso on penalties in the other semi-final. Nigeria’s coach, Stephen Keshi, said after the game, that, “Mali are a good team with a top player like Seydou Keita. But they are not very fast at the back and we took advantage of this to score our first two goals.” Mali’s coach, Patrice Carteron, was proud of his team, saying, “I’m still proud of this team. We worked hard even though we did not reach the final.”