Nigeria defeated the first time finalist Burkina Faso 1-0 and got its 3rd championship in the 29th Africa Cup of Nations which was held in Johannesburg, the biggest city of the Republic of South Africa.
Sunday Mba scored in the 40th minute the only goal of Nigeria, the champion of 1980 and 1994 cups and the finalist after 13 years.
Mba, a player of the Nigerian club Warri Wolves, found the ball deflecting from the Burkina Faso defence after the shot of Victor Moses. Mba touched the ball with right foot to dribble past his opponent and found the net from the left of the keeper with his left foot shoot before the ball touches the ground.
Joseph Yobo from Fenerbahce joined the game in the 89th minute for Nigeria and Abdou Razack Trore from Gaziantepspor in the 90th minute for Burkina Faso. John Obi Mikel, a player of Chelsea in England, was selected as the man of the match.
EMENIKE SHARED THE TOP SCORER TITLE
Nigerian Emmanuel Emenike shared the top scorer title with Mubarak Wakaso of Ghana with 4 goals. The medals were given to the players by the President of the Republic of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, FIFA President Sepp Blatter and President of the Africa Football Confederation Issa Hayatou.
FINAL JOURNEY OF BURKINA FASO AND NIGERIA
Burkina Faso started the qualifications of the Africa Cup of Nations from the 3rd round and was qualified for the final tournament after eliminating Republic of Central Africa. Nigeria passed Ruanda in the second round and Liberia in the 3rd round before qualifying for the finals.
The finals included 16 teams in 4 groups where Burkina Faso and Nigeria were in Group C together with Zambia and Ethiopia. Burkina Faso finished at the top of the group with 5 points with goal average against Nigeria where both teams were qualified for the quarter finals.
The group match between Nigeria and Burkina Faso was 1-1 draw where Emenike scored for Nigeria in the 22nd minute and Alain Traore scored in the extra time for the Burkina Faso.
Burkina Faso defeated Tago 1-0 in the quarter final and Ghana 3-2 in a penalty shoot out in the semi final. Nigeria defeated the tournament favourite Ivory Coast 2-1 in the quarter final and Mali 4-1 in the semi final.
