The ‘biggest’ game of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations will take place today in Garoua between the Super Eagles of Nigeria and the Pharoahs of Egypt. The opening matches so far in the group stages have been underwhelming, to say the least, with Cape Verde, Guinea, Senegal, Morocco, and Gabon all recording 1 nil victories against their opponents.
Host nation Cameroon had a good start to the tournament looking sharp in phases of their 2-1 win against Burkina Faso in group A. We are yet to have a cracker to get the tournament properly started
Nigeria is coming to the tournament without their star striker in Victor Osimhen. For a team that lacks goal scorers, that’s a blow. Despite the abundance of talents in the attacking third, former head coach, Gernot Rhor failed to get the best out of this Nigerian team and got the sack weeks to the commencement of the tournament.
Interim coach Austin Eguaveon is in charge of the team in Cameroon, with players arriving late to camp, his job is to galvanize this group of players to win AFCON for the fourth time. The test starts this afternoon against Egypt.
KEY BATTLES
STOPPING SALAH
With 16 goals in 20 appearances in the English Premier League this season and 7 in 6 in the UEFA Champions League, Mohamed Salah is the biggest threat Nigeria will find very difficult to nullify. SC Paderborn defender Jamilu Collins is missing from the camp of the Super Eagles and Ola Aina is expected to play the left-back role. Aina is a good defender but he has to be at the top of his game to stand a chance of stopping the Liverpool forward from wrecking the kind of havoc defenders across Europe have become accustomed to.
Behind Aina is Leganes defender, Kenneth Omeruo. He has been superb for Nigeria but his lack of pace may present Salah the kind of opportunities he enjoy exploiting. The Egyptian forward will be in the company of Aston Villa attacking midfielder Mahmud Trezequet, who makes a return to the team in 10 months after a serious injury.
Can Nigeria’s defense cope with the technical quality of the Pharoahs? We will soon find out…
NDIDI VS ELNENY
There’s no doubt who is superior between Leicester City’s Wilfred Ndidi and Arsenal’s Mohamed Elneny. Ndidi is a regular in the heart of everything good in Leicester City while Elneny is a bit-part player for Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal. Both are unique in their ways. The Nigerian is rated among the best defensive midfielders in the world because of his ability to regain position and put in spectacular tackles to stop the opponents from advancing. His ball distribution has improved tremendously and with an instinct to move forward to find the attackers, his skill set will be very valuable to Nigeria.
While Elneny is the type of player that keeps the ball rolling. He is very secure in possession and can find a pass when given time and space. When he ventures forward, he can score from long range. His seeming weakness is his lack of pace which can expose the back four and the tendency to play safe by passing backward.
How well these two can perform will be key to their teams. The attacking midfielders like Everton’s Alex Iwobi and Rangers Joe Aribo will have to put in a shift to help lessen the burden on Ndidi.
NIGERIA’S TRICKY FRONTMEN
Undoubtedly, Nigeria will miss Osimhen following Napoli’s refusal to release him for the tournament. Taiwo Awoniyi is expected to get the nod upfront and will be flanked by Nantes’ Moses Simon and Villarreal winger Samuel Chukwueze. On their day, Moses and Chukwueze can trouble any defense in the world with their direct running and cut-backs.
Chukwueze plays in the right flank where he can go direct to put in a cross or take a decoy to his left foot to take a shot. This is an attribute well known to teams across the world but still, proves difficult to handle.
Simon is a powerful runner from the left who can beat his markers. The two wide men have an outlet in the centre to aim their ball to.
Nigeria has failed to win in the last five competitive meetings against Egypt, with the last victory being a 1-0 win in 1990 in the Nations Cup.
This fixture may decide who wins the group but both teams are favourites to qualify to the next round.
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