Nigeria Vs Mali: 4 - 1 AFCON 2013

The semi final match between Mali and Nigeria was held yesterday and it was a day or rejoicing for many Nigerian fans.

From the onset, it happened that the Super Eagles were consistently dominating the match which had a Malian team on the defensive except for a few minor struggles at the Nigerian goal post.

Mali has since played a victorious game against her opponents since the African cup of nations beating countries to reach the semi final. Now, on meeting Nigeria, it seemed their game has lost steam as they did not play in their usual form probably after hearing how Nigeria beat the likes of Drogba and Kalou of Ivory Coast.

Nigeria was able to score up to 3 goals in the first half and two others in the second half of which one was disallowed. Later on, Mali was able to get a compensation through Diarra who scoring a goal at the 75th minute.

Goals by Nigeria
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First goal: Echiejile 24th min by header
Second goal: Ideye 29th min
Third goal: Emmanuel Emenike 43rd in a free-kick
Fourth goal: Ahmed Musa 59th min via a through ball.

This was the most exciting game Nigeria has played so far in the AFCON 2013.

Stories reaching me indicate that a Burkina Faso would also be reaching the finals after beating Ghana in a penalty.

Nigeria has already played against Burkina Faso in the group C match hat ended in a 1 - 1 draw and we would again meet each other at the final. It so happens that the final match is now made of 2 teams from Group C. What a combo!

Who wins the Sunday match between Nigeria and Burkina Faso? For now, it seems that the momentum seems to be swinging to Nigeria's favour given the calibre of teams they've beaten such as the Ivoriens and the Malians. For Burkina Faso, they've only played the easier matches compared to Nigeria.