Ekong’s defensive display earns him Man of The Match Award
William Troost EKong has been picked as the Man of the Match in the third place Nations Cup playoff.
Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) said the Nigerian defender had a “Stellar performance” in the 90 minutes showdown to deserve the award.
Ekong was instrumental in the Nigeria defence throughout the encounter preventing the Tunisia attack from getting a goal.
Odion Ighalo scored the only goal as Nigeria beat Tunisia in the third-place play-off at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Ighalo, the tournament’s top scorer with five goals, tapped in after keeper Moez Ben Cherifia deflected the ball off his own defender Yassine Meriah.
In a slow-paced game between the two losing semi-finalists in Cairo, Tunisia went close as Ferjani Sassi and Ghaylene Chaalali shot wide.
Three-time winners Nigeria have now finished third eight times.
Tunisia, champions in 2004, needed a finger-tip save from Cherifia to deny Samuel Chukwueze in the second half and the keeper was called on again in injury time to acrobatically save Samuel Kalu’s free-kick.
Senegal will look for their first Afcon title when they face 1990 winners Algeria in Friday’s final.
Read also: 2019 AFCON: Ighalo hands Super Eagles bronze