10th January, 2026
Nigeria powered to a deserved 2-0 victory over Algeria in their Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal with second-half strikes from Victor Osimhen and Akor Adams to set up a semifinal with hosts Morocco.
Osimhen steered home a long cross from the left by Bruno Onyemaechi two minutes into the second half on Saturday as Algeria goalkeeper Luca Zidane made a bizarre jump to try and stop the effort, but ended up getting his angles wrong and conceding an easy goal.
Adams increased Nigeria’s lead 10 minutes later as Osimhen unselfishly fed him the ball, and he took it around Zidane before placing it into an empty net.
It was an impressive performance by Nigeria, who two months ago missed out on World Cup qualification, as they overwhelmed their opponents from the start at the Grand Stade de Marrakesh, looking more determined, quicker around the field and stronger in the challenges, and denying their opponents a single scoring chance.
Algeria were already hanging on grimly in the first half, with Nigeria having good chances to be ahead at the break.
Algeria centre back Ramy Bensebaini cleared off the line in the 29th minute from Calvin Bassey after the depth of Ademola Lookman’s free kick was misjudged by Zidane and the Nigeria fullback was able to steer an effort goalward from a tight angle.
