Super Eagles’ AFCON group ‘favourable’ but tricky

Since the draw for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) coming up later in the year in Morocco was held last Monday, there has been noticeable excitement among Nigerian football fans, including the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) leadership because they believe the Super Eagles have found themselves in an easy group. The three-time African […]

Since the draw for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) coming up later in the year in Morocco was held last Monday, there has been noticeable excitement among Nigerian football fans, including the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) leadership because they believe the Super Eagles have found themselves in an easy group.

The three-time African champions, who were the losing finalist at the last edition in Cote d’Ivoire, will slug it out with the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia, the Cranes of Uganda and the Taifa of Tanzania in Group C of Africa’s biggest football event.

Considering the profiles of Uganda and Tanzania, who are yet to win the coveted trophy, most football fans are of the opinion that the worst result for the Super Eagles would be second place in the group.

Of course, such optimism is not unfounded because, apart from their ranking as one of the best football nations in the continent, the Super Eagles reenacted their trademark performances at the 2023 AFCON. Although they started slowly, the team, coached by Jose Peseiro, which depended on defensive solidity to win matches, eventually got into gear, and the rest is now history. Although the Super Eagles lost the final match to the Elephants, who miraculously regained their form in the course of the tournament, they were given heroes’ welcome by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

However, even as it is not completely wrong to celebrate the AFCON draw, it is also necessary to caution Nigerians against over celebration of the Super Eagles’ luck. If the team is made to believe that it would be a stroll in the park when hostilities begin in Morocco, we would have ourselves to blame.

The history of the national team abounds with stories of how they struggled against perceived minnows or how the Super Eagles were thoroughly beaten once they became over-confident. Most of us still recall vividly how the Super Eagles were humiliated by Denmark at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, simply because they had shifted attention to the next match.

Playing in Group D along with Paraguay, Spain and Bulgaria, the Super Eagles continued from where they left off at USA 1994 as they stunned the world with the 3-1 thrashing of Spain in their opening match. Football fans around the world are still talking about Sunday Oliseh’s 78th minute thunderous strike from 35 yards that sealed the win for Nigeria. When the Super Eagles squeezed past Bulgaria 1-0 in the second group match, they had effectively secured their place in the knock-out stage. Unfortunately, they became over-confident and suffered a humbling 1-3 loss to Paraguay in the final group match.

However, instead of the team to brace up for the match against Denmark, the players, and indeed, some of their supporters, were busy preparing to meet either the almighty Brazil or Chile in the knock-out stage. Sadly, the Super Eagles suffered one of their worst defeats in their World Cup history when the Danes took them to the cleaners in no time. In fact, within the first 15 minutes, Denmark was two goals up.  In the second half, the Super Eagles conceded two more goals before Tijani Babangida’s consolation goal came in the 77th minute of the one-sided encounter at Stade de France, Saint Denis.

Without a doubt, the cause of the embarrassing defeat the Eagles suffered was the loss of concentration and complacency. They underrated the Danes but paid with a heavy defeat that made nonsense of their historic win over Spain in the opening match. And most recently, before the final leg of the 2022 World Cup playoff against Ghana, the players were already looking towards Qatar, but the Black Stars stunned them right in front of their fans in Abuja.

Please, no one should send the wrong message to the Super Eagles that qualifying from Group C in Morocco will be an easy task. Every team that has qualified for the finals of the tournament deserves respect. Moreover, if they want to be sincere with themselves, the Super Eagles players would confess that qualifying from Group A at the 2023 AFCON was a herculean task. It won’t be wrong to say that they won only one match in the group, which was the 1-0 victory over the host, Cote d’Ivoire.

In the final group match with Guinea Bissau, Sangante literally gifted them the second win with an own goal in the 36th minute. It was after they survived the group stage and took down the Indomitable Lions in the Round of 16 that the Super Eagles grew in confidence. So, there is no guarantee that they will hit the ground running in Morocco.

In addition, the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia, who are still feeling embarrassed by their poor performance in Cote d’Ivoire, would want to appease their fans with better results. Therefore, they would be playing like wounded lions, so the Super Eagles must be wary of them.

Moreover, the 2023 edition of the AFCON produced memorable upsets like the 4-0 crushing of the hosts by the lowly rated Equatorial Guinea, but more of such results should be expected in Morocco. This is because the gap between the big teams and the small ones has reduced considerably. Therefore, Uganda and Tanzania shouldn’t be dismissed with a wave of the hand.

The Super Eagles have also escaped from archrivals like Cameroon, Egypt, Senegal, South Africa, Morocco, Ivory Coast and Angola in the group stage, so those who are still celebrating should do it cautiously, else it would backfire. Indeed, it will be nonsensical for the Super Eagles to underrate their opponents.