Nigeria wins Africa Cup of Nations title

Nigeria has won the Africa Cup of Nations title after 19 years by defeating Burkina Faso 1-0 in the finals of the football championship.

Nigeria [2] has won the Africa Cup of Nations [3] title after 19 years by defeating Burkina Faso 1-0 in the finals of the football championship. A late first-half goal from Nigerian footballer Sunday Mba [4] helped his team to victory. The Nigerian Super Eagles won the first prize of 1.5 million US dollars and a place at the FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil, where they will face world and European champions Spain, Tahiti and Uruguay, News.com.au reports. The goal by Mba gave Nigeria a 1-0 half-time lead after 45 minutes that followed Nigeria dominating possession and scoring chances while the Burkina Faso team relied largely on counter-attacks. The win was a record for Nigerian coach Stephen Keshi, who matched the feat of late Egyptian football coach and player Mahmoud El Gohary, by winning gold medals both as a player and as a coach. It was only the third time the countries have met in the 56-year competition with Nigeria beating then-Upper Volta 4-2 in 1978 and Burkina Faso snatching a stoppage-time 1-1 draw in a Nelspruit group game last month. (ANI [5])

Nigeria wins Africa Cup of Nations title after 19 years