AFCON 2023: Tijani Babangida expects ‘wounded’ Nigeria to rip Cote d’Ivoire apart

By Wale Mustapha

Former Nigerian international, Tijani Babangida believes wounded Super Eagles to subdue Ivory Coast in their second match of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Abidjan on Thursday.

The wasteful Super Eagles settled for 1-1 draw against the Nzalang Nationale on Sunday and Babangida who was Nigeria’s poster boy at AFCON tournaments in the early 2000 is optimistic of a good outing against the host nation.

“Our team is now a wounded team, and I can assure you that they would give the Ivorians a real taste of the game,” the former international told media.

“It is not going to be easy I know, but I am very hopeful that this team wll definitely qualify.

“I know that playing the host is not going to be easy especially as they won their first game, but the good thing is that we also got a point from our first match.”

The former Super Eagles winger expressed optimism that the Super Eagles will definitely qualify from that group irrespective of the outcome against the Ivorians.

“No matter what happens in our next game if we win the last group game we will come out with 4 points, that is in the event that we fail to win the host.

“The team is not that bad as people thinks. We created a lot of opportunities, but the challenge was that we were not able to convert them into goal, and I want to believe that the coaches are working on those lapses.

“For me I will want to say that it is too early to begin to press the panic button,” he concluded.