Football lovers across Africa are eagerly anticipating the thrills of the round leather game as the 34th edition of the biggest continental sporting competition gets underway later today (Saturday) in Cote d’Ivoire.
The opening match of the Africa Cup of Nations kicks off at 9pm (Nigerian time) between the host Ivory Coast and Guinea Bissau at Alassane Ouattara stadium.
However, millions of Nigerians will be more interested in the Super Eagles’ outings in the mundial starting with an encounter against Equatorial Guinea at 3pm on Sunday.
Not a few are upbeat Nigeria have what it takes to go the whole hog to the final and ultimately clinch the coveted prize at the sound of the final whistle on February 11 at Alassane Ouattara.
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If the Super Eagles must scale all the hurdles to end their 20-year AFCON Championship drought and clinch the coveted $7m prize, they need to learn from their mistakes in the 2021 edition that led to their shocking exit at the knockout stage against Tunisia – the underdogs.
TACTICAL ERROR
Nigeria performed excellently at the group stage of the last AFCON, winning all the three matches in style. Such outstanding performance not only boosted the players’ morale but also made most fans believed that the Eagles would soar to the last day and lift the trophy.
The high expectation came all crashing against Tunisia, no thanks to Nigeria’s lack of tactical dynamism.
Nigeria are known for playing from the wings to break through to the opponent’s box and the tactic worked magic in their group stage matches.
Unfortunately, they put up the same style against the Carthage Eagles whose stoic defence threw a spanner in the works.
“We know Nigeria are very strong and very fast in the wings,” said Tunisia assistant coach, Jalel Kadri, who stood in for head coach Mondher Kabaier who was sidelined having contracted COVID-19.
“Today we came up with tactics to put pressure on the Nigerian wingers because they are very dangerous,” Kadiri said.
A former Goal.com Sports reporter, Solace Chukwu, alluded to the same error while reacting to Nigeria’s exit at the time.
“I would say the biggest issue was a deficiency of tactical preparation. Nigeria lacked alternative avenues for chance creation and progression when their opponents shut down their major attack lanes, and the most telling aspect of it was that the manner in which Tunisia did was obvious even before the game started.
“It could have been preempted: anticipating the opponent’s reaction and using it against them is a staple of strategic thinking,” Chukwu had said.
OVER CONFIDENCE
Another weakness of the Super Eagles in the 2021 AFCON was being too confident, especially after winning all their group stage matches.
Babajide Guerrero, a football analyst, reflected on this, saying “No one wins a tournament at the group stage.”
“You have to stay switched on for seven matches, if you do that you’d most likely win. Nigeria should be beating a full strength Tunisia side, let alone a side stricken with Covid, we thought we won the game before the game was played,” Guerrero stated.
AVOIDABLE RED CARD
The Super Eagles striker, Alex Iwobi, was introduced at the second half of the match against Tunisia as a game changer, only to cause the team more damage a few minutes later.
He was red-carded for a reckless tackle on Youssef Msakni. He was initially given a yellow card which was upturned to an outright red card after a VAR check showed he had stamped on Msakni’s ankle.
Iwobi’s abrupt exit heaped more pressure on the Eagles as they laboured throughout the match without getting the desired result. It ended in a 1-0 loss.
REGAINING POSSESSION
Another noticeable weakness of the Super Eagles that Tunisia capitalised on was poor ability to regain possession.
“We also know they have difficulties when they lose the ball,” Kadiri had noted in the post-match conference.
As Nigeria make a start to the competition on Sunday, it is left to be seen how prepared they are to rise above these mistakes and more and route their way through to the final.
