Super Eagles on the March Again as Nigeria Seeks Fourth AFCON Title

After a decade in which Nigeria last won the Africa Cup of Nations, the Super Eagles will tomorrow begin another shot at the AFCON title. Though the spate of injuries and recent results churn in by the team does not place the three-time African champions as one of the tournament’s favourites. The actors are however promising soccer-loving Nigerians that they are not in Cote d’Ivoire to add to the numbers, Kunle Adewale writes 

Nigeria’s fourth African Cup of Nations title quest will get underway tomorrow, as the Super Eagles face the challenge of Nzalang Nacional of Equatorial Guinea in the second match of Group A at the Stade Olympique Alassane Ouattara D”Anyama Stadium, after host country, Cote d’Ivoire take on Guinea-Bissau in the opening game of the competition today.

On paper, one would expect the Super Eagles to get the maximum points against Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau, which would ensure a ticket to the knockout stage. But betting on a side that could not defeat Lesotho and Zimbabwe in World Cup qualifiers leaves much to be desired.

To add to the team’s challenge is the spate of injuries between the ranks. First it was Wilfred Ndidi that was dealt a big blow through injury, and just when fans were recovering from the Leicester City midfield blow, news flittered in that the country’s best performer in Europe this season, Victor Boniface got injured at the team’s training camp in Abu Dhabi. As if that was not bad enough, on Thursday, Real Sociedad striker, Sadiq Umar, sat out Super Eagles training in Abidjan to heighten fears amongst the country’s football stakeholders that Nigeria may begin  the AFCON 2023 campaign against Equatorial Guinea with just Victor Osimhen as the only out and out marksman.

It was later confirmed that Umar has been ruled out of the AFCON 2023 because of the injury he picked up from the Nigeria friendly with Guinea last Monday in Abu Dhabi. He’s ruled out of action for three months while Southampton on loan player at Trabzonspor in the Turkish league, Paul Onuachu has been drafted as his replacement in Jose Peseiro’s 25-man squad.

With Taiwo Awoniyi long ruled out of the competition and Kelechi Iheanacho yet to fully regain fitness since he got sidelined early last month at Leicester City only Osimhen is the striker in the squad without an issue ahead of tomorrow’s opening game against Equatorial Guinea.

Terem Moffi, a last-minute replacement for the injured Boniface, will only join up tomorrow and it is not certain now what Eagles handlers are going to do to ameliorate the dire situation.

“I believe in this group, we have a bunch of talented players to execute the job, fingers crossed and we are going to do so well. The most important thing for us now is to go to Ivory Coast and win the tournament,” Osimhen had said.

Interestingly, the team’s midfielder, Alex Iwobi is of the believe that the three-time African champions have the potential to go far in the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations.

“It has been very good. We’ve got a couple of friendlies to warm up for the Africa Cup of Nations. We’ve seen the ability and quality that we have in the team. From each man that’s in the squad and even the ones that didn’t make the squad there’s a lot of talent in Nigeria.

“We have confidence that we can go far in this competition but we have to prove it to ourselves and the first thing that I can assure Nigerians is we are going to give one hundred percent to make sure we make the nation proud,” Iwobi said.

Meanwhile, Super Eagles Chief Coach, José Peseiro has highlighted the offensive pedigree of the team ahead of the start of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations this weekend.

Nigeria qualified for the biggest African football event as the highest-scoring team during the qualification series, notching 22 goals in six games with Mali who scored 15 being the closest to them.

Peseiro in a recent interview highlighted and boasted about the offensive proficiency of his team, reckoning that his side is one of the best attacking teams in Africa.

“We qualified and had the highest number of goals scored (22) among all the pools because we are one of the African teams with a more offensive game plan,” Peseiro told Lusa agency, via Portuguese daily sports newspaper O Jogo.

“We had the best scorer (Victor Osimhen, with 10 goals) and one of the best assistants (Moses Simon, with three).”

Earlier, the Presidency gave Nigeria’s quest for a fourth AFCON title a big boost after President Bola Tinubu  approved N12 billion for the payment of outstanding salaries and wages for the various national teams, including the Super Eagles.

Over the years, the Nigeria Football Federation has been notorious for owing players, coaches, and other staff salaries. The Super Eagles’ former coach, Gernot Rohr, had to drag the federation to FIFA before he got paid his outstanding wages.

The players are not left out too, as some of them hardly get their bonuses on time. Nonetheless, the NFF has managed to keep a good relationship with them.

The payment entails the clearing of the senior national team coaches’ salaries running up to 15 months, payments of allowances and promises due to the senior national teams, females, and Under-20 national team.

This move comes at an important time for the Super Eagles, as the AFCON kicks off. This would be a morale booster for Jose Peseiro and his lads going into the competition.

Peseiro’s men will open group play at the 2023 AFCON against the Nzalang Nacional of Equatorial Guinea at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium, Abidjan, tomorrow, followed by a meeting with hosts Ivory Coast, January 18 and conclude with a game against Guinea Bissau at the iconic Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium, Abidjan on January 22.

The Super Eagles will need an outright win in the game to boost Super Eagles confidence ahead of their big game clash with host, Côte d’Ivoire next Thursday.

Nigeria’s opening game will be live on pay TV channel StarTimes. It promises to air all AFCON  2023 matches live on Sports Premium, channel 252 or 246 and on StarTimes, as well as on StarTimes-ON app.

Aside from winning the Africa Cup of Nations thrice, Nigeria have been third eight times and second four times.

It however remain to be seen if the Eagles can, against all odds, be African champions again in Cote d’Ivoire.