After a surprise trip up against Equatorial Guinea and then a win against Ivory Coast, Nigeria are looking to finish the Africa Cup of Nations group stage strong with a win against Guinea Bissau on Monday.
The reasons are obvious. First, the Super Eagles want to finish as group winners, a position that comes with certain advantages, like keeping ‘home’ field advantage, getting more rest time, and playing arguably less strong opposition.
Second, the team would prefer to ride the momentum of confidence going into the knockout stage, rather than be subjected to the pressure of recrimination about why they, again, failed to beat lower opposition.
“A win will improve the confidence,” said head coach Jose Peseiro. “When you improve the confidence, this more confidence brings more focus, this brings the same or more demands, the same or more commitment and no relaxing because sometimes you relax and you get into trouble.”
This is especially important when it comes to this opponent. It is just under a year since Guinea Bissau rolled into town for AFCON qualifying and stunned the Super Eagles in their backyard, in a game they were expected to win easily.
Mama Baldé‘s 29th minute strike helped the Central Africans claim a famous victory, embarrassing their more storied counterparts on their own home turf. Thankfully for the Super Eagles, there was a quick turnaround and three days later, they reversed the result. But the memory lingers.
“That is in the past,” Peseiro said at the media conference. “Football is about the present. You must put the focus on the present.
“It is an important match for us. We want the first position now, so we must fight for it and to do so we must do our job by beating Guinea Bissau.”
Once again, there are expectations of an easy game, with Guinea Bissau already eliminated after losing their first two games, but the Nigerians are keenly aware of the giant killing that has been going on at the tournament so far, and want no part of that.
“It will be an interesting game because they are a team that we are familiar with,” said defender Kenneth Omeruo. “Some people said it would be an easy game but there are no easy games, especially in this tournament.
“A lot of the big teams are struggling and that goes to show how improved the Africa teams are now. We are going to approach the game with all seriousness and try to win it.”
Nigeria’s injury worries have eased somewhat. Midfielder Alhassan Yusuf has returned to training with the squad but will not be available for selection. However, Peseiro says Kelechi Iheanacho and Terem Moffi are available for selection.
The final, and ultimately the title, remains the key objective for the Super Eagles in Cote d’Ivoire. Omeruo, a member of the 2013 title-winning team, is prepared to lift the trophy again, but says the team must stay grounded.
He said: “It is important for us to take each game as it comes. I know we have a slogan of ‘let’s do it again’ but we have a lot of games to come before the final. If we go into this game thinking we are just going to beat them, then they might surprise us. But we have been working hard, we have analyzed the team, we know how they play and we are working towards that in training.
“The boys know how important it is and we are going to approach that game with all seriousness to win. I believe we have the squad and the capacity to win the AFCON. But we start with Guinea Bissau.”
Ahead of their second game, the NFF rolled in former captain and 1994 winner Austin Okocha to the team hotel for dinner and words of inspiration. It appeared to do the trick.
This time, they drafted another former captain and 1980 winner, Segun “Mathematical” Odegbami, whose challenge the team was to be even more confident.
“I believe you can win it,” Odegbami said. “You can play, I saw it. I saw one of the best and most masterful displays of the right wing in (Ola) Aina. That performance should be copied and sent to every football academy in the world.
“It is going to be a difficult match, but that is how it is. That is always the tradition. It is never easy for us as Nigeria, but you can take your time, do the things you know how to do and you will prevail.”
