Nigeria claim their third Africa Cup of Nations

Sunday Mba scored a superb winning goal as Nigeria won the Africa Cup of Nations for the third time. The Super Eagles broke through the Burkina Faso defence just before half-time when Mba clipped the ball over Mohamed Koffi before firing into the far corner. Burkina Faso came close to making all square when Wilfried Sanou forced great save from goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama while Ahmed Musa and Victor Moses had great cances to make it a more comfortable win for Nigeria. Nigeria, playing in their first final since losing to Cameroon on penalties in 2000, enjoyed a good start to the match with Chelsea forward Victor Moses creating a few good runs down the right flank. Moses originated the first real chance of the match as his free kick cross was headed over by Efe Ambrose while Brown Ideye squandered a chance later on when Burkina Faso goalie Daouda Diakite spilled a corner kick cross. Aristide Bance had the first shot for Burkina Faso but it was quite clear that Nigeria were in control of the match. Their dominance was rewarded just before half time when Mba flicked the ball over Koffi at the edge of the area, didn't wait for it to touch the ground but fired a superb volley with his left foot, straight into the back of the net. Nigeria almost made it 2-0 shortly after the break when Moses played in Ideye who fired wide from a tight angle. There was no sign of a reply from Burkina Faso and Nigeria could have scored again when Moses broke through again, set up Musa but the substitute slipped and was unable to control the ball. The Nigerians could have paid for their inability to convert chances when Sanou sent a good shot towards goal but goalkeeper Eneyama put an arm to it and tipped it wide. Moses and Ideye had another pair of chances for Nigeria before the final whistle but they failed to convert them. Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi said after the game: "Winning this is mainly for my nation - when I came on board a year and a half ago my dream was to make all Nigerians happy, and to construct a great Nigerian team, We are not there yet, it's still in process. You don't want to know what was going through my head in the final five minutes! To represent Africa in Brazil at the Confederations Cup is an honour for Nigeria."