Tag: eagles

• By Paul Onehi

Former Super Eagles midfielder and 2013 AFCON winner has said that the Nigeria’s squad a the on-going Africa Cup of Nations(AFCON) in Cote d’ivoire  possess  the potential to excel against  Cote d’Ivoire but with a caveat  that  they must plug the gaping hole s in the midfield.

One of the  home-based players in the late coach Stephen Keshi-led team  that won the AFCON in South Africa,  reiterated the important of team compatibility , adding  the  Super Eagles  must deemphasize individualistic play  in order to  grind a good result.

” Nigerian have a good team,” the former  Kilmarnock midfielder said.  “But  the team needs to come together;  we played some individualistic  football in the first match against Equatorial Guinea.

“ But  before we can have good result, we need to be compact so that  we can match the Ivory Coast(Cote d’Ivoire), and t the boys need to talk to themselves .”

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He stressed the importance of  securing a win against the hosts  even as he enjoined  the team to plug all the loose ends  noticed  in the match against Equatorial Guinea.

”We need to win (against the Elephants),” he further said. “From  our game against Equatorial Guinea,  I think we need to make some correction from  some of the mistakes we made.”

 “ I think they must  have realised their mistakes  and I hope the boys will do better than that in the next game.”

Reuben also highlighted the important of solid midfield, and the need to boost the midfield with additional and experienced midfielder  even more so when Alhassan  Yusuf who impressed on  his debut against Equatorial Guinea

“We have a good team, a team that need to win but you cannot predict football,” he noted in te interview with Brila FM. “ The boys need to motivate themselves and talk to themselves; If they talk to themself, they will achieve their desire. “

• Yusuf ruled out

Nigeria and hosts Côte d’Ivoire clash in one of the most anticipated matches of the 34th  Africa Cup of Nations today , 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 the Eagles forced Equatorial Guinea’s Thunder to a 1-1 draw on Day 2.

Speaking at his conference  ahead of today’s Group A clash, coach Jose Peseiro is confident  the Super Eagles can weather the storm against the Elephants.

“We have what it takes to win the game tomorrow 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,” the Portuguese said even as  he 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. He is fine but not ready for tomorrow’s match. He will be ready for the last group match,” he said.

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Meanwhile, Elephants Captain Max Alain Gradel, who has 105 caps and was part of the Elephants’  squad that won the trophy in Equatorial Guinea in 2015, said: “We are Côte d’Ivoire. We respect all our opponents. But we fear nobody. We will do what we have to do.

 “It is a special moment for us to play the Africa Cup of Nations in our home, with the support of our people. We will do everything to make the people proud. We have super players in the squad, especially for what they bring to the group. It is a decisive match; it is an important match. We know what we have to do.”

Coach Jean-Louis Gasset said: “We are relieved; the pressure was so strong. We had seven players who started the match (against Guinea Bissau) who were playing in their first AFCON. Not everything went well, but we are relieved. All the matches we have seen have a different scenario. In the match of Nigeria, they had one or two opportunities against Equatorial Guinea. If you don’t make your superiority count, the opponent will become confident. There are no more small teams.”

Super Eagles ended their preparations for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations with a disappointing 2-0 defeat to  their Guinean counterparts  in an international friendly game yesterday in Abu Dhabi.

The Syli Nationale scored a goal in each half through Aguibou Camara and Facinet Conte.

This was a bad result for Super Eagles heading into their first group stage match against Equatorial Guinea on 14th  January.

After crashing out in the second round stage in their last AFCON participation in 2022, Super Eagles head coach, Jose Peseiro will be hoping to improve  his side  in the bid to win  a long-awaited  fourth title in Cote d’Ivoire.

In his efforts to show that he wasn’t taking the match for granted, Peseiro’s notable inclusions in the team were goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali and William Troost Ekong who captained the Super Eagles.

But it  was the Syli Nationale who stunned the three-time AFCON champions thanks to Aguibou Camara’s effort on 14 minutes for the curtain raiser.

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The Super Eagles came out in numbers and had the opportunity to equalise from the penalty spot following a foul on gangling Sadiq Umar in the 18th minute.

Nantes star Moses Simon stepped up and saw his strike saved by goalkeeper Ibrahim Kone in the 19th minute.

AC Milan forward Samuel Chukwueze and Umar both went closest to scoring but it was to no avail as the Super Eagles suffered a shock loss to the Guineans.

Nwabali made a notable save in the second half to deny Guinea who were also fine-tuning their preparations for their AFCON campaign but Facinet Conte put the game beyond the lacklustre Nigerian with the icing on the cake for Guinea some minutes after the hour.

Meanwhile, Calvin Bassey, Alex Iwobi, Frank Onyeka, Joe Aribo, Ahmed Musa, Ademola Lookman tasted second half action in the disappointing game for Eagles.

Erstwhile Super Falcons, Godwin Izilein,  has said he would  not be surprised if the Super Eagles failed to perform in the Africa Cup of Nations tournament coming up in Cote d’Ivoire.

Izilein, who stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar, described the Eagles preparation as shoddy.

He also described as “underserving” some of the players the team handlers invited for the tournament.

 “Personally, with the calibre of some of the players invited and the nature of their preparation for the tournament, it will not surprise me if Nigeria fails to do well.

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 “Preparation and pre-tournament matches should have been grade A, but with what am seeing now, I am convinced that we are truly not ready for the coveted trophy that has eluded us for 11 years now.

 “If anything good comes out, it will be a cheering news,” he stated.

Nigeria is grouped with the host country, Cote d’Ivoire, alongside Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau.

The Super Eagles will open their group match on January 14 against Equatorial Guinea.

The Super Eagles two test matches in Dubai will not be open to both the public and media, SCORENigeria has been told.

The team’s preparations for the 2023 AFCON supervised by coach Jose Peseiro have been shrouded in secrecy.

The first game will be against a team based in Dubai, where the Eagles have set up training camp this week preparatory to the AFCON, which kicks off in Cote d’Ivoire next Saturday.

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This match will be played Sunday.

The second match will be against fellow AFCON finalists Guinea, which will be played Monday.

Officials said both games will kick off by 4pm local time, which is 1pm in Nigeria as the UAE is three hours ahead.