AFCON: Four things Super Eagles must do to conquer Côte d’Ivoire

Nigeria and hosts Côte d’Ivoire clash Thursday (today) in one of the most anticipated matches of the 34th Africa Cup of Nations.

The clash will take place in a 60,000-capacity stadium that organisers say will be filled to the brim just before kick-off. It is the Stade Olympique Alassane Ouattara in Ebimpe, outside Abidjan, where both teams played their first games of the competition with differing fortunes.

The Elephants celebrated a 2-0 win over Guinea Bissau’s Wild Dogs on the opening day of the tournament, while Nigeria forced Equatorial Guinea’s Thunder to a 1-1 draw – a result many Nigerians blamed on the Eagles’ poor performance in front of goal.

Nigeria will be up against a tougher opponent in their second match and will have to put up their A-game to conquer the Elephants. Here are four things they must do differently to get a much-needed win.

Get the ball to Osimhen
Nigeria’s goal against Thunder came from the head of Africa Player of the Year, Victor Osimhen, who made his account 21 goals in 28 matches for homeland at senior level, and the Eagles will again depend on him as they hunt for three crucial points against the two-time champions.

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Osimhen was the top scorer in qualifying with 10 goals, and is expected to be eager to add to his one goal at the AFCON, having only played a cameo role in 2019 and then missed outright the 2021 finals in Cameroon.

The fullbacks, wingers and central midfielders must target the lanky forward in the box if the team must come out victorious against the hosts.

Be clinical in front of goal
Nigeria wasted so many chances in their first game against Equatorial Guinea and they were forced to a 1-1 draw on Sunday.

Osimhen was guilty of failing to convert two clear chances and he’s agreed that to scale through the Cote d’Ivoire challenge today, they must be clinical in front of goal.

The players should be ready to pull the trigger whenever they are close to the opponent’s 18-yard box. Ola Aina and Zaidu Sanusi need to be more defensive-minded, they should be ready to take their chances whenever the opportunity comes on a platter like the one blasted over the bar by Sanusi against Equatorial Guinea.

Besides, whoever started between Samuel Chukwueze and Moses Simon on the right and Ademola Lookman on the left should be encouraged to cut in and strike at goal while also trying to locate Osimhen with great crosses.

Bench Iwobi

At Wednesday’s pre-match conference in Abidjan, Coach José 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 (Thursday). He is fine but not ready for tomorrow’s match. He will be ready for the last group match,” he said.

“We have what it takes to win the game tomorrow (Thursday) 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,” Peseiro added.

The Super Eagles indeed created many chances but Cote d’Ivoire is no Equatorial Guinea, they are the hosts and parade a quality team. Hence, the coach needs to deploy different tactics; and sacrifice Alex Iwobi.

The Fulham midfielder gives little defensively and was not creative enough to feed Osimhen in the most parts of the last encounter. He should give way for a more defensive-minded and physical player like Joe Aribo.

Aribo should be paired with Frank Onyeka in central midfield where most of the battles are expected to be fought.

Deploy 4-4-2 formation

Coach Peseiro prefers the 4-3-3 formation but against Cote d’Ivoire, a 4-4-2 formation could bring out the best from the Super Eagles looking at the players available to the team.

When in position, the two fullbacks can join the attack while the two central midfielders sit back in case of any counterattack.

Moreso, Osimhen will do better with a partner up front. The coach could pair him with Terem Moffi upfront to bring the best out of the two hitmen. The combination of the two will be a nightmare to any defence at the AFCON.