By Wale Mustapha
Nigeria will be hoping to bounce back from their disappointing opening day result when they take on hosts, Ivory Coast in the African Cup of Nations encounter on Thursday.
The Jose Peseiro’s men settled for a 1-1 draw against Equatorial Guinea extending their winless run in all competitions to four games, with Victor Osimhen’s header from Ademola Lookman’s delivery canceled out a goal from Ivan Salvador for the Nzalang Nacional.
Ivory Coast, on the other hand kicked off the 34th edition as envisaged with a comfortable 2-0 win over Guinea-Bissau on Saturday. A goal in each half from Seko Fofana and Jean-Phillipe Krasso handed the Elephants a comfortable win that stretched their unbeaten runs in all competitions to seven.
The Ivorians will be banking on their current form and the support of the home fans when they engage Nigeria and will be hoping to win their opening two games at AFCON for the first time since 2013 when they saw off Togo and Tunisia before ending the group games with a 2-2 against Algeria.
Interestingly, the Super Eagles went on to win the 2013 edition in South Africa despite they ended their group as runners up before going all the way to the final, where they claimed a narrow 1-0 victory over Burkina Faso.
This is the ninth time both countries will meeting at a major tournament and qualifying series with evenly balanced share of honors between them. Three wins for either side and two draws were recorded in their previous meetings.
Victor Osimhen, who rescued the Super Eagles from defeat, with his 21st goal in 28 matches for homeland at senior level, and the Eagles will still rely on him as they hunt for three crucial points against the two-time champions.
At Wednesday’s pre-match conference in Abidjan, Peseiro disclosed that hard-as-nails midfielder Alhassan Yusuf, who impressed against Thunder on Sunday, is out of reckoning due to injury he copped in the encounter. “Yusuf is out of the game tomorrow. He is fine but not ready for tomorrow’s match. He will be ready for the last group match.”
Peseiro stated further: “We have what it takes to win the game tomorrow and there’s nothing to change in my team because we created a lot of goalscoring opportunities in our game against Equatorial Guinea and we hope to utilise the opportunities this time and score goals.”
Captain Max Alain Gradel, who has 105 caps and was part of the Elephants’s squad that won the trophy in Equatorial Guinea in 2015, said: “We are Côte d’Ivoire. We respect all our opponents. But we fear nobody. We will do what we have to do.
“It is a special moment for us to play the Africa Cup of Nations in our home, with the support of our people. We will do everything to make the people proud. We have super players in the squad, especially for what they bring to the group. It is a decisive match; it is an important match. We know what we have to do.”
Their next meeting at the Olympic Stadium in Ebimpe will be more than just for three points at stake as pride and confirmation of supremacy were also at stake.
The Super Eagles need to win the match to avoid the risk group stage elimination for the first time since 1982.
Do achieve that, Peseiro’s men will require to be at their very best to dislodge the Ivorians who are unbeaten in 37 of their last 38 group-stage games and are currently on a run of 17 straight matches without defeat in the group stages of AFCON since 2012.
Their next meeting at the Olympic Stadium in Ebimpe will be more than just for three points at stake as pride and confirmation of supremacy were also at stake.
The Super Eagles need to win the match to avoid the risk group stage elimination for the first time since 1982.
Do achieve that, Peseiro’s men will require to be at their very best to dislodge the Ivorians who are unbeaten in 37 of their last 38 group-stage games and are currently on a run of 17 straight matches without defeat in the group stages of AFCON since 2012.
