Nigeria take on hosts Ivory Coast in their second AFCON 2023 group stage match, with a win for either team putting them firmly in the driving seat to top the group.
The Super Eagles drew their opening match with Equatorial Guinea 1-1 despite creating far more chances than the underdogs, while Ivory Coast eased past Guinea-Bissau 2-0.
Ahead of this crunch fixture between two African rivals, we spoke to AFCON 1994 winner and Bet9ja Ambassador Victor Ikpeba about his thoughts ahead of the match.
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Both sides can afford to draw, but Nigeria have to aim for victory
Ivory Coast are in the driving seat of this group after their opening victory against Guinea-Bissau, and have a good amount of momentum heading into this match. This is probably the biggest fixture of the group stage and the support for both teams will be massive.
Nigeria can work with a draw against a strong team, but a win here would be massive not only for their position in the group, but their confidence too. It will be very interesting to see how Jose Peseiro lines the team up – we don’t need to go for broke from the opening whistle but at the same time I think it would be a smart decision to use our offensive weapons as quickly as possible.
We need to defend the wide areas well
Ivory Coast are very strong in the wide areas, we all know what players like Nicolas Pepe and Jeremie Boga can do when they are on form. They have a technically strong midfield that can feed them the ball quickly and isolate them against our full-backs.
I would like to see Zaidu Salisu replaced for this match – he didn’t have his best game against Equatorial Guinea and missed a big chance despite his attacking quality. Whoever is playing in the full-back roles needs to demand support from their wingers.
While the first match wasn’t the result we wanted, I’m hoping The Super Eagles can go one better on Thursday. You can back them at 3.90 at Bet9ja!
