AFCON 2019: Madagascar spank Super Eagles to top Group B

<p>Lowly-rated Madagascar shocked highly-rated Nigeria 2-0 after an awful performance by the Super Eagles handed the Indian Ocean islanders leadership of Group B.</p>, <p>The result condemned the three–times champions to finishing second and a probable encounter with the Black Stars of Ghana in the Round of 16.</p>, <p>The then group leaders started on the wrong footing as Leon Balogun failed to deal with a routine backpass.</p>, <p>It led to the ball being snatched by Lalaina Nomenjanahary to score the first goal for the competition debutants after only 13 minutes.</p>, <p>The Eagles, who won each of their two previous matches by the odd goal, then showed a palpable lack of mental power to respond.</p>, <p>Samuel Kalu fluffed a great pass by Ahmed Musa in the 19th minute.</p>, <p>Musa himself, left with the goalkeeper to beat as a pass found him in the penalty box, bungled with a poor first touch.</p>, <p>His subsequent attempt to dribble the goalkeeper failed.</p>, <p>In the second half, instead of working hard to get on level terms in no time, Nigeria quickly found themselves further behind.</p>, <p>That was when substitute Wilfred Ndidi deflected a free-kick by Carolus Andrea past a wrong-footed goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa.</p>, <p>A deep soul–searching is now imminent in the Nigeria camp after such a flat performance.</p>, <p>ALSO READ: Egypt recall banned Warda after players’ demand reprieve</p>, <p>They lost to a team rated lower than 100th in the world and we’re making their first-ever appearance at the Africa Cup of Nations.</p>, <p>First touches left the Eagles’ midfielders and forwards down, as they made heavy weather of simple passes and controls.</p>, <p>Also, creativity was totally lacking in a team that earned a ticket to Egypt with a match to spare.</p>, <p>Skipper Mikel Obi, making his 89th appearance for the Eagles, was a shadow of himself, while Alex Iwobi was no magnificent difference when he came on.</p>, <p>Moses Simon and Wilfred Ndidi brought no spark or innovation on board when they were