Libya Saturday night emerged winner of CHAN 2014 with a 4-3 defeat of the Ghanian Black Stars.
The match ended goalless draw after 90 minutes of play and extra time 30 minutes.
It took the sudden death round of penalty kicks after a 3-3 scoreline for Libya to emerge champion of the competition.
Nigeria had earlier narrowly beaten Zimbabwe 1-0 in the semi-finals.
Nigeria’s Super Eagles are guaranteed of 250,000 dollars (about N40m ) prize money after beating Morocco’s Atlas Lions 4-3 in Saturday’s quarter-final match of the ongoing African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Cape Town.
The Stephen Keshi tutored-side will now wait to play their semi-final opponents after the winners of the Ghana v DR Congo quarter-final clash emerge.
According to the continents football governing body, CAF the 3rd & 4th teams at the end of the tourney will smile home with 250,000 dollars each.
Interestingly, the winner of the CHAN will pocket USD 750, 000 (N120m) while the runner-up will leave with USD 400,000 (about N64m).
Benjamin Francis and Ikenna Paul remain doubtful for Nigeria’s last and decisive group match at the African Nations Championship, CHAN against hosts South Africa on Sunday.
The team doctors are working round-the-clock to ensure they return to fitness ahead of the next game, officials said. Heartland defender Francis is nursing a knee injury, while Sunshine Stars midfielder Ikenna is battling with a hamstring problem and he is believed to be a more serious case.
Bright Esieme played at left back in place of Francis against Mozambique, while Shehu Abdullahi started Wednesday’s clash in place of Ikenna.
Enugu Rangers midfielder Ugonna Uzochukwu hurt his right ankle against Mozambique.
However, coach Stephen Keshi has been stoic he has enough cover for the injured players.
Mozambique Coach Joao Chissano has hinted that there’s not much difference between the set of Super Eagles that lifted the AFCON 2013 and the ones flying the flag of Nigeria at African Nations Championship (CHAN) 2014.
This he made known while speaking after the Mambas’ 3-1 loss to host, South Africa.
The Mambas next face Nigeria on Wednesday at the Cape Town Stadium. Chissano admitted the tournament would get even tougher as his team came face to face with the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) champions, who themselves suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of Mali in the other group A opener.
“The first game was an extremely important one. The Nigerian team are the [Africa Cup of Nations] champions, they won the title last year and yes, they won the title with international players, but nevertheless, it is still the Nigerian team.”
Mozambique skipper Dario Khan, though, said the team still had plenty to compete for in their last two group fixtures and hoped to get back to winning ways against the tournament favourites in their next game.
“It’s always very difficult to start with a loss and I know that the next two games are going to be difficult, but we still have two games, so we’re going to give our best to win at least one of them,” Khan said.
Mozambique are rooted to the bottom of group A’s standings, with Bafana leading the group, while Mali are placed second and Nigeria third.
Ejike Uzoenyi has said he hopes Nigeria repeats last year’s AFCON glory at CHAN, which gets underway also in South Africa today.
The diminutive left winger was on the squad as Nigeria won a third Africa Cup of Nations in February last year.
“I strongly believe that we have the capabilities of emerging champions of CHAN,” said the player nicknamed ‘Okodo-Igbo’.
“The coach has drilled us very well on what is expected of us at the championship and what is left is for us to deliver the goods on the pitch. I don’t think any of our group stage opponents can challenge us.
“I hope to be second time lucky in South Africa with the Super Eagles ‘B’ team to add to the Nations Cup, we won here last year.”
The Eagles ‘B’ team have been robbed of some quality following the departure overseas of players like Sunday Mba, Godfrey Oboabona and Gomo Onduku.
“Yes, we are going to miss the services of such players like Mba, Oboabona and so many others, but that does not mean that we don’t have capable replacements,” he said.
“We are going to surprise everybody at the championship. There is no cause for alarm. We will come back with the trophy.”
Uzoenyi is already a full international for Nigeria. He has 18 international caps even though he has yet to score for the country at this level.
“I am not really disturbed by my lack of goals yet for the senior side because, after every match, the coach finds time to praise me for my contribution. However, I hope to break that goals’ drought at the CHAN and open my goals account,” he said.
The petite, but wily Ejike cut his teeth with Enugu-based non-league Samba F.C under late coach Ugochukwu a.k.a, ‘Eze-Ndi-Igbo’. He then featured for the likes of Kogi United, Gateway FC of Abeokuta and Enyimba before he pitched tent with Enugu Rangers in the 2008/09 season.
Uzoenyi’s Rangers team mate Sunday Chinedu has told MTNFootball.com the dashing forward will play a major role at CHAN.
“He is a great motivator with bags of tricks on the pitch and I hope he will be very influential for the team in South Africa 2014,” remarked midfielder Chinedu.
“With his dribbling skills, I see him drawing defenders to himself thereby freeing other attackers to bang in the goals.”
“Ejike is a player for any team. He crosses the ball very well and dribbles very well. I really enjoyed our partnership in Rangers. I pray that he finds his form at the championship for the world to really appreciate his God given talent,” added former teammate Emeka Nwanna.
The winger has returned from a short loan deal at French club Rennes and he will now be looking to use the CHAN to play himself back into the World Cup-bound Super Eagles.
“The World Cup is still far away and I would rather focus on the task at hand, which is the 2014 CHAN. It is only after CHAN that it would be wise to say anything about the World Cup,” he insisted.
The Super Eagles have been given tips on how to beat Mali in their African Nations Championship (CHAN) opening game after South African side, Santos FC pipped the Coach Djibril Drame-led side 1-0 in a friendly.
In the tune-up game played at the Hartleyvale Cape Town Stadium on Tuesday, the relegated Premier Soccer League (PSL) side shocked the CHAN contenders with Roelf Gregory’s 26th minute long range strike catching goalkeeper, Diakité Soumaïla off guard.
The Malians in a spirited fight to level scores had the woodwork at their mercy as their strikers’ shots hit the post more than four times.
SportingLife recalls that Djibril Drame’s side lost 1-0 to Libya and drew 0-0 with Ghana in a pre-CHAN friendly before their arrival in South Africa on Sunday.
•Players undergo endurance training
As fans in South Africa and beyond continue to tip the Super Eagles for honours at the Championship of African Nations (CHAN) tournament which starts this Saturday in Nelson Mandela’s country, the team has said it will not be carried away but will approach each game with utmost seriousness and focus.
Assistant Coach Dan ‘The Bull’ Amokachi, said fans and pundits are entitled to their prediction for the tourney but he knows that there are no small teams.
“The boss, Stephen Keshi does not believe in quick fixes and neither do we. We must work very hard if we are to take something out of this place and most importantly remain disciplined”, he told the players and officials of the team.
An ex-international, Waidi Akanni, on Sunday said coach Stephen Keshi’s fighting spirit would spur the Super Eagles to greater heights at the Championship of Africa Nations (CHAN) in South Africa.
Akanni, a former Green Eagles defender in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, said the Home-based Eagles had what it takes to win the championship. He added that he was optimistic that the team would go far in the tournament based on their performance at the friendly match against the Walya Antelope of Ethiopia on Saturday in Abuja.
“I think the boys gave a good account of themselves, they won 2-1, which is not bad; they will get better. Playing with the Ethiopia side gives us an idea of what to expect at the tournament.
“The tournament will help Keshi to pick more of the boys for his World Cup team too. Keshi’s winning spirit will help the team. I expect him to pick the best players for the World Cup,” Akanni said.
He said that with the World Cup near, many of the players would put in their best to make the final list to Brazil.
NAN reports that Eagles will confront host South Africa in Group A alongside Mail and Mozambique in Cape Town.
As Nigeria’s opening game against Mali draws closer, head coach, Stephen Keshi has assured fans that he and his coaching staff have taken the time to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition.
He noted that his experience of previously managing Mali between 2008 and 2010 would help the Super Eagles when they face the Eagles in their opening game of the tournament on January 14.
“I know how things work in Mali. I also know a lot about their national team. However, things could be different now that they have a new coach (Henry Kasperczak),” Keshi told supersport.com.
Keshi also spoke about the group’s other two opponents, Mozambique and hosts, South Africa.
“I don’t know that much about the Mozambicans but my findings so far reveals that they are a very good side.
“We know the South Africans very well. We played against them last year at the Nelson Mandela Challenge and we’ll see how it goes this time round,” he said.
Nigeria will be making their debut in South Africa this year.
The first tournament was held in 2009. It was hosted by the Ivory Coast and won by the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The competition was expanded to 16 teams for the second tournament, held in Sudan in 2011. The tournament was won by Tunisia.
The Super Eagles will face Mali, Mozambique and South Africa in Group A.
Super Eagles head coach Stephen Keshi has ruled out the possibility of Kelechi Iheanacho rejoining the senior national team after his bid to join Manchester City fell through.
The 2014 U-17 FIFA World Cup MVP was among the 30 players the Big Boss invited to camp in preparation for the CHAN tournament holding in South Africa early next month. The player, however, left for England to begin his professional career with the EPL side. The deal, however, fell through after the monetary terms agreed upon could not accessed, as the club insisted that the money would only be paid when the player is 18-years-old. This, however, infuriated the player, his father and his agent, as they decided to walk out of the contract, and return back to Nigeria.
Keshi told SportingLife that there is no way the player would be called back to the team ‘as I told you earlier, this player is a very enterprising young man with good prospect. He was getting up very well when he was in camp, but he has been away for over a week now and can no longer cope again. So, he cannot be part of the team again’. He said the player was very much in a hurry to join a big team like Manchester city.