The 'Elefants' proved their flexibility with a different approach and setup.
The consequence: a less physical but more creative game of the two teams (compared to the Cameroon - CIV match).
The Nigerians, because of player material and style a little less flexible, have their attacking strengths in departments which collide with Ivorian strengths rather than their weaknesses. They stick to their typical 'brazilian' style, keeping the match open and strike in a sudden moment of brilliance.
This did not work out in the first half and so the Côte d'Ivoire had the clear majority of penalty area visits, still most of them could be contained as half dangerous by the Nigerian defence.

A long ball on Drogba surprised the Nigerians in the 47th minute. The Chelsea striker escaped and scored - 0:1
Nigeroia threw in Okocha who created some more dangerous situations. The idea to keep Nigeria with all their weapons scoreless seems ridiculous and the Ivorians drew too far back for some moments.
But they escaped a number of crossing attempts and a dangerous free kick situation and towards the end of the match improved very much on ball and time control.