Nigeria faced off against the tournament hosts Ivory Coast in the second match of Group A played on Thursday night at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium.Côte d’Ivoire set up in a 1-4-3-3 with Angers man Yahia Fofana in goal. Nottingham Forest right-back Serge Aurier and Ghislain Konan were the full-backs. The highly rated Ousmane Diomande partnered with Roma’s Evan Ndicka as the centre backs.In midfield, another Nottingham man Ibrahim Sangare played alongside Al Ahli’s Frank Kessie and Al Nassr’s Seko Fofana. Jean-Phillippe Krasso led the attack flanked by Jeremie Boga of OGC Nice and Christian Kouame who plays for Fiorentina in Italy.##NAJAVA_MECA_7812066##Nigeria’s Jose Peseiro set up his side in a 1-3-4-3 formation. South Africa-based Stanley Nwabali who plays for Chippa United stood in between the sticks. The back three was made up of Calvin Bassey who plays for Fulham, William Troost Ekong of PAOK in Greece, and Semi Ajayi plying his trade with West Bromwich Albion in the English Championship.Zaidu Sanusi of FC Porto and Ola Aina were the wingbacks. Fulham’s Alex Iwobi and Brentford’s Frank Onyeka anchored the midfield.In attack, Africa’s best player Victor Osimhen was flanked by AC Milan’s Samuel Chukwueze and Atalanta’s Ademola Lookman.Both teams fielded star-studded teams and from the start, it was clear, this was going to be a cracker.In the build-up, the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire were structured in a 3-1-4-2. Right back Aurier stayed back to make a 3-man rest defense at the back while the left back Konan pushed high to join the midfield.Ibrahim Sangare was the solo pivot. Having three players at the back meant there were more passing lanes in the build-up and was easy to beat the first line of pressure, the single pivot was very often overloaded forcing the defenders to progress the ball themselves into the midfield bypassing Sangare.However, as we pushed higher up the field in to attack the 3-1-4-2 build-up shape was replaced by a lop-sided hybrid 2-3-5 attacking shape. Konan was always holding width on the left, with Serge Aurier holding the right side.AFCON 2023: Ekong’s penalty has Super Eagles soar over the ElephantsHowever, when Seko Fofana pushed up from his midfield position into attack, Aurier would fall back to maintain the 3-man midfield ensuring enough numbers to recycle the ball in case the attack failed and they had to reset and go again.Kessie occupied a deeper position with his long-range passing being a weapon to break down the 5-man Nigerian defence. He was constantly switching play to the wide areas where they could isolate their wingers 1v1 against the Nigerian wingbacks.Ivory Coast defended in a 4-1-4-1 defending shape with Ibrahim Sangare as the single pivot. They looked to press by first baiting Nigeria to play the ball to one side, they would then overload that side and look to win the ball before it was switched to the other side.However, it’s fair to say that The Elephants struggled in this regard. With their wingers not sure not to cover the wingbacks or the center-backs, Nigeria always had an overload in their first line of buildup and this was translated to the rest of the field as the extra man kept pushing up.The Nigerian wingbacks also pushed high up to combine with their wingers and overload the Ivorian fullbacks 2v1 making it hard for Coast to properly defend against them.Nigeria’s build-up shape was a 3-2-3-2. The three centre-backs stayed at the bottom of the structure with Onyeka and Iwobi forming a double pivot just ahead of them. Chukwueze always drifted in the field occupying the no 10 space and was joined by wingbacks Sanusi and Aina to form the three behind Lookman and Osimhen.The 3-man rest defense and the double pivot made it comfortable for Nigeria to calmly build up as they had as many passing lanes as possible with 5 players spread across the defensive and middle thirds. Onyeka and Iwobi’s ability on the ball also meant that the West African nation could easily bypass pressure whether by structure or individual quality.AFCON 2023: Senegal vs Cameroon to set up eventful Friday as second round continuesIn attack, the shape transitioned into a 3-2-2-3 (with a box midfield). Chukwueze stayed inside and was joined by a dropping Lookman to have two 10s. The Ivorians found it hard to defend this shape as they were overloaded 4v3.The wingbacks continued offering width and this occupied the Ivorian fullbacks. This meant the two 10s had more time on the ball and Chukwueze was dangerous in those pockets, creating the most chances in the game. The Nigerian creative players looked to create chances for Osimhen via through balls in behind hoping he could use his pace.Defensively, Nigeria defended in a 5-4-1 shape which gave them solidity at the back. They were also able to have 5 men defending the 5 attackers in Ivory Coast’s 2-3-5 attacking shape and this meant they were not overloaded, the only way they could be beaten was through individual brilliance.In conclusion, this was a brilliant tactical battle but Nigeria slightly came out on top. Their structure and style of attack earned them the penalty that was converted by Troost-Ekong to give them the three points and that sees them top Group AAFCON 2023- GROUP STAGERound 2ThursdayEquatorial Guinea – Guinea Bissau 4-2 (1-1)/Nsue 21, 51, 61, Miranda 46 – Orosco 37, Ze Turbo 90+3/Ivory Coast – Nigeria 0-1 (0-0)/Troost-Ekong 54 pen/Egypt – Ghana 2-2 (0-1)/Marmoush 69, M. Mohamed 74 – Kudus 45+3, 71/Friday17:00: (2.15) Cape Verde (3.15) Mozambique (3.70)20:00: (1.97) Senegal (3.30) Cameroon (4.20)23:00: (2.15) Guinea (3.15) Gambia (3.70)Saturday17:00: (1.72) Algeria (3.50) Burkina Faso (5.40)20:00: (3.15) Mauritania (3.05) Angola (2.45)23:00: (2.75) Tunisia (2.95) Mali (2.85)Sunday17:00: (1.58) Morocco (3.70) DR Congo (6.75)20:00: (2.30) Zambia (3.15) Tanzania (3.35)23:00: (2.00) S.Africa (3.30) Namibia (4.00)***odds are subject to change***
