The final berth of Nigeria's Super Eagles, after beating the Eagles of Mali 4-1 at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa Wednesday, was celebrated massively by local newspapers Thursday.
Almost all newspapers reported the victory on their front pages, in addition to giving a prominent play to the pictures of the team in action against Mali.
Nigeria, not considered one of the tournament favourites, is now regarded the most likely team to lift the trophy, after eliminating pre-tournament favourite Cote d'Ivoire in the quarter-final and dispatching Mali in the semi-final.
'Super Eagles thrash Mali 4-1' is the front page headline of the NATIONAL MIRROR newspaper, which featured a picture of the Super Eagles celebrating their victory over Mali.
'It's Nigeria, Burkina Faso for final' is the headline in the VANGUARD newspaper, which also used a picture of celebratory Super Eagles on its front page.
The NATION newspaper's report on the match is headlined: 'Eagles Maul Mali to make final'. The paper also carried a picture of three Super Eagles players kneeling down in prayers after the match.
'Nigeria mauls Mali, reaches final' (SUN); 'Eagles destroy Mali to reach final' (PUNCH) and 'Eagles thrash Mali 4-1 to zoom into final' (GUARDIAN) were some of the other headlines.
Pana 07/02/2013