The Tremendous Eagles of Nigeria's journey to a fourth African Cup of Nations begins right this moment (Sunday) in opposition to the Nzalang Nacional of Equatorial Guinea on the Alassane Ouattara Stadium, Ebimpe Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
Guinea-Bissau, touted as favorites alongside the Ivorians who received the championship opener in opposition to minnows, had been upset by a flurry of withdrawals from Wilfred Ndidi, Victor Boniface and Sadiq Umar, whereas Leicester Metropolis's Kelechi Iheanacho can also be uncertain for the day. .
Issues aren't significantly better on the sector. The defeat to Guinea's Syli Nationale within the preliminary match has solid doubt on the supervisor and Jose Peseiro's tactical skill.
There was additionally some concern in regards to the imbalance within the squad. Nevertheless, this was shortly dismissed by Peseiro throughout the pre-match presser on Saturday.
“I imagine in my gamers, in all of them, from goalkeeper to striker. Each group generally has extra energy in sure positions. It occurs to all nationwide groups,” Peseiro informed reporters in Abidjan.
The supervisor additionally confirmed that Terem Moffi, who replaces the injured Boniface, is not going to arrive in time for Sunday, whereas Iheanacho and late signing Paul Onuachu had solely simply landed in Ivory Coast.
Thus, the majority of the Tremendous Eagles' firepower is predicted to return from not too long ago topped African greatest participant and high scorer in qualifying (10 targets), Victor Osimhen.
Regardless of the withdrawals, Peseiro continues to be armed with Africa's greatest strikers together with Moffi, Samuel Chukwueze, Moses Simon and Ademola Lookman.
For the Tremendous Eagles' opponents Equatorial Guinea, who had been winless of their earlier two encounters, persevering with their spectacular report of reaching the final eight each time they participate within the continental showpiece will encourage them forward of the match of Sunday.
Juan Micha's males enter Ivory Coast in wonderful kind, unbeaten in eleven aggressive and non-competitive matches, together with World Cup qualifier victories in opposition to Namibia and Liberia, with out conceding a single purpose.
They’re additionally buoyed by the presence of striker Emilio Nsue, a key a part of Equatorial Guinea's hopes for achievement at AFCON 2021.
Whereas success is way from assured for the Nigerians, supervisor Micha believes they will damage their opponents
“We have now an ambition on this event, we wish to win the event. We all know what we’ve to do, we wish to do our greatest
“We have now an advanced match tomorrow, Nigeria are among the many favorites, however we’ve ready to play on the highest degree.
“They’re lacking gamers they usually have replacements, we’re conscious of Nigeria's potential and we’ve our potential too. We have now ready for the match,” he informed a press convention on Saturday.
Details and figures in regards to the sport
1. This would be the first assembly between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea within the CAF Africa Cup of Nations. They confronted one another within the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches – Nigeria received each matches (1-0; 2-0).
2. Nigeria makes its twentieth look on the CAF Africa Cup of Nations. They’ve received the event thrice (1980, 1994, 2013) and reached the semi-finals in 14 of their final 17 AFCON appearances.
3. Nigeria had been defeated by the finalists the final time the CAF Africa Cup of Nations was held in Ivory Coast; they misplaced 3-1 to Cameroon in 1984.
4. Nigeria have received 12 of their final 15 matches on the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (L3). Their final draw dates again to the 2013 group stage, in opposition to Zambia (1-1).
5. Nigeria scored 22 targets in six matches in qualifying for the 2023 CAF Africa Cup of Nations, probably the most among the many 24 groups at this yr's event. 10 of these targets got here from Victor Osimhen, which is twice as many as another participant (4 gamers on 5 targets)
6. That is Equatorial Guinea's fourth look within the CAF Africa Cup of Nations, however solely the second time the nation has certified as a non-host. They’ve all the time reached the knockout phases to date: quarter-finalists in 2012 and 2021, and 4th place in 2015.
7. Equatorial Guinea has by no means scored greater than two targets in its earlier fifteen matches on the CAF Africa Cup of Nations.
8. Solely two of Equatorial Guinea's eleven targets at AFCON have been scored within the first half.
9. Victor Osimhen was immediately concerned in 55% of Nigeria's targets throughout the qualifying marketing campaign (10 targets, 2 assists). It’s the highest variety of targets scored within the qualifying section of an AFCON version since Moumouni Dagano with Burkina Faso in 2010 (12 targets).
10. Regardless of Victor Osimhen scoring 10 of the 22 targets, Nigeria had 10 completely different goalscorers throughout qualifying for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, greater than another group.
