One of the epic games of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco holds at the Stade de Marrakech in Marrakech from 5 pm (West African time) as Nigeria’s Super Eagles and the Desert Warriors of Algeria contest for a semifinal ticket to face the hosts next Wednesday. Morocco booked a place in the semifinal by beating five-time winners Cameroon 2-0 on Friday night.
Like their Algerian opposition, Nigeria have won all their fixtures in this edition, but experienced players’ protest over match bonus after walloping Mozambique 4-0 in the Round of 16 on Monday. The team refused to travel from their base in Fès until the captain, Wildfred Ndidi assured them of getting their dues from him if the Nigeria Football Federation failed.
How well that setback had been put behind the team will be on show as Algeria attempt to reach the last four for the eighth time, two of which ended with their crowning as champions (Algeria 1990 and Egypt 2019). Progressing beyond the quarter-finals has rarely been an issue for Nigeria, who have reached at least the semi-finals in 15 of their previous 20 AFCON participations, including the last edition, where they finished runners-up ith Cote d’Ivoire coming from behind to win the final match.
Looking to make amends for that near miss in the last edition — and the disappointment of failing to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals — lifting the continental crown would go a long way for the Super Eagles, who have gone about that ambition in impressive fashion so far.
Eric Chelle’s men have scored a competition-high 12 goals and conceded four, though Nigeria’s round-of-16 victory over Mozambique marked their first clean sheet of the campaign. The three-time AFCON champions (Nigeria 1980, Tunisia 1994, South Africa 2013) made light work of their opponents in that encounter, netting through a Victor Osimhen brace and strikes from Ademola Lookman and Akor Adams.
That victory, however, was slightly overshadowed by an on-field fracas involving Osimhen, Lookman and Bruno Onyemaechi, although the Super Eagles are reported to have put the incident behind them ahead of a stern test against familiar foes.
Nigeria are winless in their last four meetings with Algeria, losing the most recent three, including 1-2 in the 2019 AFCON semifinal, with the other two losses coming in friendly encounters in 2020 and 2022.
Earlier in the 1980 final of AFCON hosted by Nigeria, the then Green Eagles walloped Algeria 3-0 to win and become champions for the first time. But the Algerians had their revenge in 1990 when they also hosted, beating their Nigerian opponents by a lone goal.
Despite disappointing Group Stage exits in the previous two AFCON editions, Algeria were tipped as one of the favourites to lift the trophy this time around, and the north Africans have left little to chance.
Algeria’s Round of 16 clash with DR Congo presented them with their sternest test so far, but the Desert Warriors rose to the occasion, securing a 1-0 win in dramatic fashion after extra time as Adil Boulbina’s 119th-minute strike proved decisive.
That strong showing has contributed to an impressive run of 11 wins from the last 14 matches across all competitions, with the two-time continental champions’ only defeat in that stretch coming via a penalty shoot-out against the United Arab Emirates in the FIFA Arab Cup.
However, despite their momentum, there will be a note of caution heading into this evening’s clash, as Algeria have fallen at this very stage in four of their last six AFCON knockout appearances.
Off the field, CAF announced a change to the officiating team for the Algeria-Nigeria fixture, removing Somali referee Omar Artan on the eve of the kick-off. The confederation said the highly anticipated encounter will now be officiated by experienced referee Issa Sy, as it moved swiftly to ensure full compliance with tournament regulations.
The decision followed earlier reports that Artan was at risk of being withdrawn from the match after appearing in football boots from a non-approved brand, an action understood to be in violation of CAF’s sponsorship and commercial guidelines. Under CAF regulations, match officials are required to wear equipment supplied by, or fully aligned with, the competition’s official sponsors.
CAF intervention is regarded as an effort to avoid any potential commercial or regulatory breaches during the tournament.
In the last quarterfinal, record title winners Egypt will go all the way in their attempts to kick defending champions Cote d’Ivoire from the competition. The Elephants were emphatic in their last game walloping Burkina Faso 3-0 in the Round of 16. That will inspire them to go over the Pharaohs, who had to go into extra time to eliminate Benin Republic 3-1 in their own second round fixture.
The winners of this clash will contest with Senegal in the first semifinal on Wednesday.
