Eagles, Bafana Bafana clash in make or break duel

While South Africa leads the group with four points, Nigeria is in the third position with three points, behind second-placed Mali who also has four points in their bag.Both countries need a win to advance to the quarter-final of the championship. Though South Africa with four points can still advance if they lose by one […]

While South Africa leads the group with four points, Nigeria is in the third position with three points, behind second-placed Mali who also has four points in their bag.
Both countries need a win to advance to the quarter-final of the championship. Though South Africa with four points can still advance if they lose by one goal against the most feared opponents in tomorrow’s tie and Mozambique wins over Mali in the other fixture of the group.
Records have shown that South Africa has a dismal record against the Super Eagles over the past two decades, with the West Africans comfortably their most feared foe.
They must summon courage from somewhere though as they need to avoid defeat in Cape Town on Sunday though to advance to the next stage of the CHAN tournament, admittedly against the poorest Nigerian side they have ever faced.
But the numbers make for dismal reading. They have only scored in one of their previous eight meetings against the Nigerians, managing a goal every six hours of football. At the same time they have averaged two goals conceded per game.
Six of those eight matches have ended in defeat, with a fortunate 0-0 draw and a single victory in the 2004 Nelson Mandela Challenge to show for their efforts.
South Africa were handed a football lesson in their first meeting with Nigeria, which came just months after readmission into international football in 1992.
The country was hurriedly included in the qualifying fixture for the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the US but was not ready for the fierce battle of competitive football on the African continent.
Nigeria won 4-0 in Lagos as goals from Richard Owubokiri, Samson Siasia and legendary forward, the late Rashidi Yekini (two) gave the home side the points in front of 70, 000 fans.
Current Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi was a stalwart of that side that was coached by the flamboyant Dutchman Clemens Westerhof.
South African then escaped with a 0-0 draw in the return match in Johannesburg in January 1993. Yekini had the ball in the back of the net after being put through on goal by a Lucas Radebe back-pass, which out him onside, but somehow the Botswana referee and his assistant managed to disallow the strike.
It took until the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals for the two teams to meet again and Nigeria had the upper hand once more on home soil in Lagos, winning 2-0.
Tijani Babangida opened the scoring inside a minute and added another just past the half-hour mark to oust Bafana Bafana.
The teams met again in the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations group stage and it end in defeat again for South Africa as Nigeria romped to a 4-0 win in Tunisia.
Joseph Yobo, Jay-Jay Okocha and Peter Odemwingie (two) humiliated Bafana in what remains, along with the 1992 loss, the joint heaviest defeat in the history of the national team.
Later that year came some joy at last for Bafana fans as they beat a depleted Nigeria 2-1 in the 2004 Nelson Mandela Challenge at Ellis Park.
It was one of the highlights of Stuart Baxter’s reign as coach as Shaun Bartlett and Benedict Vilakazi put the hosts into a 2-0 lead by the hour-mark. Ayodele Makinwa pulled one back to set up a nervy finish, but Bafana were worthy winners on the night.
It was, unfortunately, normal service resumed after that when the teams met in the qualifying for the 2010 World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations.
Ike Uche and Obinna Nwaneri scored in a comfortable Super Eagles victory in a steamy Lagos in June 2008, before Uche was again on target in the return fixture in Port Elizabeth as Nigeria won 1-0 a few months later.
Their last fixture was at the Nelson Mandela Challenge last August when the African champions breezed to a 2-0 victory with a brace from Uche Nwofor to extend Nigeria’s dominance over South Africa.
So, when the two countries clash in tomorrow’s fixture, besides the chase for a quarter-final berth, revenge and the quest for monopoly will be the driving force for the two sides.
Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi has already fired a warning at Bafana Bafana claiming Nigeria are getting stronger with each game they play at the 2014 African Nations Championship tournament and tomorrow’s fuel will be a different game.
He however said it would be a big challenge for his team to beat the host nation in Cape Town tomorrow, but that the Eagles could win the game if they remained properly focused for the entire 90 minutes.
“We’ll see what happens on Sunday. Bafana has a very good team — Siphiwe Tshabalala, Itumeleng Khune and Bernard Parker — they are experienced players and they can change the game any time. So it’s going to be a very difficult but we will try and do our best.
“I have watched both their games, and they have what it takes. So we must be very, very focused. The concentration level of our team needs to be high to withstand them. And they have a very good coach, that’s my problem. The coach has to go home.”
“I prime my work on the mental (aspect), which I do all the time – more tactical, positional play, because they need to understand the system,” Keshi said.
“I’m so happy with the players because they are getting it quickly, so I think we will get better and better as the tournament goes on.”
Already, Eagles first choice keeper and skipper, Chigozie Agbim, who has an unimpressive showing in the first two matches of the championship has pleaded with Nigerian fans to forgive his floppy display in the games, assuring that he will be better in against South Africa.
“No goalkeeper in the world will be happy to concede cheap goals and for a keeper of my calibre I am most disappointed than anyone else but that is football and I can’t dwell in the past. I have to forget and plead with fans of the game to understand and forgive so that we can jointly forge ahead. I promise that I will do better next time and it’s a promise I wish to keep”, he said.
Similarly, Eagles winger, Ejike Uzoenyi, who was named Man of the Match, in the 4-2 win over Mozambique on Wednesday has said the award will spur the team to greater heights at the ongoing tourney in South Africa.
“This award is for the entire team and I hope we go all the way and win this tournament for Nigerians”, he said.
Both countries have experienced coaches and the players who can weave a winning pattern for their fatherlands, and no doubt today’s match will live up to its expectation.