By Ikeddy ISIGUZO
SUPER Eagles coach Austine Eguavoen boasted a few days back that the Eagles were ready for any opposition at AFCON 2022. The utterance in the midst of the speculations over who the Eagles would play next was part of the new confidence they have acquired.
More than any team, Super Eagles stamped their authority on AFCON 2022 with their performance in the opener against Egypt. Their ability to cage world-rated Mo Salah without consequences won the team more admirers.
Their finishing top of the group, without losing a game, made Eguavoen the first Nigerian coach to have won all Eagles games at this stage. Nigeria also became the only team at AFCON 2022 to complete the group games with the maximum nine points.
With Tunisia, one of the foxiest teams in Africa as their opponents in the second round, the tension is building up again? Will the Super Eagles deliver?
In 20 head to head games Super Eagles defeated Tunisia six times, drew eight matches and lost six, the most recent win was at AFCON 2019. Some of the games deserve mention.
The most memorable of those games remains the 1-0 defeat to Tunisia on 12 November 1977 at the National Stadium. It cost Nigeria further progression in the 1978 FIFA World Cup. Tunisia abandoned their third place AFCON 1978 tie with the Eagles in Accra and there was the 5-0 bashing of the Super Eagles in a 1984 friendly followed by Eagles 2-0 loss in Tunis that expelled Nigeria from the 1986 World Cup.
“People expect Nigeria to win the AFCON and that puts me under some pressure but I will take it and digest it,” said Eguavoen during the group matches.
“We take each game as it comes. All the teams here have come to prove a point.”
Eagles have played their way back to the hearts of Nigerians with an emphatic deployment of wing play which Nigerians love. Nigerians express their joy by insisting, “I have seen Eagles okay like this”.
Victor Moses uses the tactic to re-enact wavy runs down the flanks, a Nigerian style older Nigerians remember, and younger ones never met. They unsettle the oppositions. Most of the Super Eagles AFCON 2022 goals have resulted from the ploy.
A victory over Tunisia will continue Eagles dominance of Tunisia at AFCON. The Eagles have not lost an AFCON finals match to Tunisia since their first encounter in 1961 which Nigeria won 2-1.
Stade Roumdé Adjia, venue of Sunday’s match, a multi-purpose stadium in Garoua, Northern Cameroon, has been home of the Eagles since they arrived in Cameroun. They must be feeling comfortable in the facility constructed in 1978. A Portuguese firm renovated it four years ago. Its capacity is 30,000 people though it is not expected to take more than 18,000 people for AFCON matches under COVID-19 protocols.
The stadium, home ground of Cotonsport Garoua, one of famous clubs, is only 110km from Yola in Adamawa State and an hour’s flight from Abuja.
Nigerians have fallen in love with Eguavoen. When he leads the Super Eagles over Tunisia, he would extend the chummy relationship.
Good luck Super Eagles.
*AFCON 2022 Rd 2 fixtures*
*Sun 23 Jan 2022*
17:00 – Burkina Faso v Gabon, Limbe
20:00 – Nigeria v Tunisia, Garoua
*Mon 24 Jan 2022*
17:00 – Guinea v Gambia, Bafoussam
20:00 – Cameroon v Comoros, Yaounde
*Tue 25 Jan 2022*
7:00 – Senegal v Cape Verde, Bafoussam
20:00 – Morocco v Malawi, Yaounde
*Wed 26 Jan 2022*
17:00 – Cote d’Ivoire v Egypt, Douala
20:00 – Mali v Equatorial Guinea, Limbe
Discussion about this post