The Super Eagles of Nigeria have won the bronze medal at the AFCON 2025 tournament in Morocco after defeating Egypt in the third-place game in Casablanca, Soccernet.ng reports.
Eric Chelle opted against starting household names like Alex Iwobi, Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen as Akor Adams paired Paul Onuachu in attack.
However, Iwobi and Lookman made their way onto the pitch in the second half, but couldn't affect the game as it was a cagey affair for 90 minutes.
The Super Eagles went into another penalty shoot-out after engaging Morocco in one a few days ago, but this time the outcome was different.
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Takeaways from Nigeria's AFCON 2025 win against Egypt
1. Stanley Nwabali's penalty heroics
Since making his competitive debut for the Super Eagles in January 2024, Stanley Nwabali has been involved in four penalty shootouts.
South Africa in the AFCON 2023 semi-final, the World Cup play-off against DR Congo, the AFCON 2025 semi-final against Morocco, and now, the AFCON 2025 third-place game against Egypt.
In each shoot-out, the Chippa United goalkeeper has shown he's a reliable hand for Nigeria, as he's saved at least one penalty in all four games.
Additionally, the performance today stands out as he denied household names in Mo Salah and Omar Marmoush from twelve yards.
2. Improvement from the game against Morocco
Samuel Chukwueze and Bruno Onyemaechi were denied by Yassine Bounou against Morocco, and getting into another shoot-out against a North-African team felt like Deja Vu.
However, the Super Eagles showed a calmer demeanour in Casablanca tonight. While Fisayo Dele-Bashiru went first and missed.
Akor Adams, Moses Simon, Alex Iwobi and Ademola Lookman all stepped up and converted their spot kicks, showing Chelle's men worked on their weakness after losing to Morocco.
3. Super Eagles not taking chances, again
Not too many chances came by at the Stade Complexe Mohamed V in Casablanca, but Nigeria had four good chances that could've been converted to a goal if they'd been proficient.
Apart from Paul Onuachu's disallowed goal, the finishing on display this evening was far from impressive.
4. Bright Osayi-Samuel's injury
The Birmingham City full-back played six of Nigeria's seven games in Morocco, and has been one of the stand-out performers, but his AFCON campaign ended in the 65th minute after he went down with an injury.
Osayi has had to play a lot of minutes due to Ryan Alebiosu's injury, but he put his body on the line, knowing there was no other right back in the Super Eagles squad.
In his absence, Eric Chelle played Raphael Onyedika as a makeshift full-back for the final 25 minutes of regular time.
5. Nigeria win bronze at the AFCON for the 9th time
Heading into the tournament in Morocco, the Super Eagles were looking for some respite after failing to qualify for the World Cup.
Given they'd won the silver medal in Ivory Coast, it was go for gold or nothing, but that dream ended when they faced the host nation, Morocco.
Still, they can hold their head up that they left with a medal and a record remaining intact. Before today, Nigeria had played in eight third-place AFCON games and emerged as winners in all of those games.
They continued their run tonight, and it was a first AFCON medal for Eric Chelle and his coaching staff.
