By Ifeanyi Raymond
The Super Eagles of Nigeria booked their place in the round of 16 in emphatic fashion with an impressive 100% record in the group stage which culminated with a two nil victory against the Djurtus of Guinea-Bissau in the last Group D encounter at Stade Roumde Adjia in the port city of Garoua, the capital of Cameroon’s northern region.
They maintained a dominant form to end their group campaign, winning the maximum points from three matches – the only team to record such feat at the ongoing tournament and the interim coach, Augustine Eguavoen, who equalled his own record as the only coach of the Super Eagles to maintain such record in the group stage, a feat he managed in the 2006 edition held in Egypt where he had the likes of Vincent Enyeama, Jay Jay Okocha, Obafemi Martins, Nwankwo Kanu, Obinna Nsofor, Taye Taiwo etc. They came out third best in that edition beating Senegal by a lone goal in the third-place match after losing out to the Ivory Coast in the semi-finals with Ivorian and Chelsea legend, Didier Drogba scoring the only goal of the encounter. The Ivorians lost out to the Pharoahs of Egypt in the finals on penalty shoot outs.
The Super Eagles finally added to their initial haul of two AFCON titles in South Africa 2013 under the tutelage and guidance of the late Stephen Keshi whose side had the presence of Joseph Yobo as captain, John Obi Mikel, Victor Moses, Ogenyi Onazi, Efe Ambrose, Elderson Echiejile, Vincent Enyeama, Efe Ambrose, Ahmed Musa, Emmanuel Emenike and others. They beat Burkina Faso by a lone goal in the finals to lift the famed trophy for a third time.
The closest the Super Eagles of Nigeria came to winning the much coveted African trophy was in Egypt 2019 where they lost out to eventual winners Algeria in the semi-finals but went on to beat Tunisia in the third place match with Odion Ighalo scoring the only goal of the game.
At the start of the ongoing AFCON in Cameroun, they looked to build on the last performance and possibly go ahead to win it as they are now been tipped by pundits and bookmakers to go all the way and clinch the title from under the noses of the host nation who seem like the side to beat having gone unbeaten in their three group games beating Burkina Faso and Ethiopia before playing out a surprise 1-1 draw with the Cape Verde in their last group game after already qualifying for the knockout stages and hoped to keep a 100% record.
The AFCON campaign would have been marred by the absence of Victor Osimhen who was ruled out due to facial injury, Odion Ighalo dropped as a result of irregularities unresolved between the NFF and his Saudi Arabian side, Al Shabbab. Also Emmanuel Dennis who has been ever present for Watford in the English Premier League was left out for some technical issues resulting to him being dropped from the team and all these came after free-scoring Paul Onuachu was also ruled out to injury few weeks to the tournament but the replacements in Awoniyi, Umar and co have proven otherwise as their absence have not really been felt as many had predicted.
Notably, the longest serving coach of the Super Eagles, Gernot Rohr, was sacked few weeks to the start of the tournament and Augustine Eguavoen appointed on interim basis and also doubles as the technical director of the NFF. He was tasked with taking the Super eagles to AFCON with a more permanent solution to take over in the appointment of Portugese Jose Peseiro. He is to take charge after the tournament with the world cup playoffs his first assignment as Nigeria aims for an appearance at the Qatar 2022 World Cup later in November.
On arrival in Cameroun for the TotalEnergies AFCON 2021, the Super Eagles played a friendly against Cottonsport of Garoua beating the local side by two goals which served as the only preparatory match before kicking off the competition.
The first match was a mouth-watering tie against the Pharaohs of Egypt who boast the presence of Liverpool talisman, Mohammed Salah who is also the captain of the national side, though his presence on the pitch didn’t make any difference as the Eagles ran out one nil winners with the solitary goal scored by “Senior man” Kelechi Iheanacho after dominating for most part of the game with the defensive pair of captain Troot-Ekong and Kenneth Omeruo making it their life’s work to shut out and repel whatever was thrown at them by Salah and his teammates. Moses was a menace to the Egyptians picking off from where Moses of the Bible left off with his dazzling runs on the left flank wrecking havoc to the Egyptian defense.
The second group game against Sudan was merely a contest, with no disrespect to the Sudanese side, as the Eagles were viewed as clear favourites and didn’t disappoint on that note as they won convincingly with a 3-1 scoreline. Samuel Chukwueze opened the scoring in the early minutes of the first half which ended with one goal. Coming into the second half, Taiwo Awoniyi added to the Eagles’ advantage when a flicked on header from Ekong ricochet off his face to beat the Sudanese goalkeeper and into the net. Moses Simon capped off yet another entertaining and stellar performance with a goal almost immediately after coming on as a substitute, winning the ball in the opposition’s half and passed to Awoniyi who loosely controlled the ball which kindly fell to the oncoming Moses who lashed on to the ball and beat the goalkeeper in his near post for the third goal. In the 70th minute a penalty was awarded to Sudan after VAR had confirmed foul play when Ola Aina pulled down a player in the box for the penalty which Waleildin Khedr slotted home for what proved to be a consolatory for the Sudanese side as the Eagles’ defense proved impregnable through the match.
Coming into the last group game against Guinea-Bissau having already qualified for the knockout stages, the Super Eagles’ technical crew rested some key players with Kelechi Iheanacho, Troost-Ekong and Wilfred Ndidi retaining their starting places as Coach Eguavoen gave a rest to the squad and played the likes of Uzoho in goal in place of Maduka Okoye, Semi Ajayi for Kenneth Omeruo, Tyrone Ebuehi for Ola Aina, Jamiu Collins for Zaidu Sanusi, Kelechi Nwakali for Joe Aribo, Chidera Ejuke coming in for Moses Simon, Alex Iwobi replacing Samuel Chukwueze and Sadiq Umar replaced Taiwo Awoniyi in attack. The Eagles ran out two-goal winners with goals from Sadiq Umar who redeemed himself with the goal after wasting a number of chances earlier on as Kelechi Iheanacho found him at the far post with a Robben-esque outside left foot pass before slotting it in for the first goal in the 56th minute after a goalless first half. Moses once again terrorized the Guinean defense after coming on in the second half running down and dribbling his way through the defense before releasing a shot that hit the goal post and fell kindly for Troost-Ekong who capped off his Man of The Match performance with a goal.
The Eagles looked sharp in the group matches and Nigerians will hope to see more of the performance in the knockout stages as we wait for a fourth AFCON title. Eguavoen will also be looking to best his record of 3rd place at the tournament in 2006 by winning the trophy.
