This year’s Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals begin on Friday with two of four games taking place, the first of them seeing Nigeria take on Angola.
After South Africa stunned Morocco in the round of 16, Nigeria are now the highest-ranked side left in the competition, leaving them as favourites to go on and win the competition. However, they will have to first beat a tricky Angola side who recorded their first ever win in an AFCON knockout round.
With AFCON providing plenty of drama throughout the tournament so far, we’re sure there will be more to come in this one and we’ve picked out our top tips and booking codes for the upcoming game:
Nigeria vs Angola
Friday 2 February, 18:00
Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny
Nigeria come into this game as the highest-ranked side left in the competition as they sit 42nd in the official FIFA rankings, seven places higher than the hosts Ivory Coast in 49th. While this does leave Nigeria as the favourites to go on and win the competition, they’ll have to put out a strong performance if they are to beat an Angola side who have impressed so far this tournament.
After a rather underwhelming group stage from the Super Eagles who scored just three goals as they progressed in second place below Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria looked to have got the ball rolling in their game against Cameroon. A 2-0 win thanks to a goal in each half from Atalanta forward Ademola Lookman alongside Victor Osimhen’s immense battling saw Nigeria breeze into the quarter-finals, leaving fans starting to dream.
However, this competition has shown that every side are capable of beating one another with their already being several perceived upsets in this tournament. With Angola also being one of the surprising standout sides of the tournament, this is the case even more so in this game.
The southern African side finished top of their group over Burkina Faso and 2019 winners Algeria with two wins and a draw in their three games, scoring six and conceding just three along the way. They then moved on to win 3-0 over Namibia to create history with their first every knockout round win in an AFCON tournament, and they’ll be looking to create further history with a second win in this one.
Angola do have a history of causing misery for the Super Eagles with them previously denying Nigeria a spot in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and they’ll be hoping to deny them a semi-final spot this time around.
Bet9ja Tips
Angola’s free scoring ways in the tournament so far, scoring nine goals, combined with Nigeria’s solid defensive record, conceding just one, is sure to make this game an interesting one.
While Angola are sure to take the game to Nigeria as they look to cause heartbreak for the West African nation, we do expect that Nigeria’s quality will take them to victory in the end and you can get odds of this to happen of 1.74 with Bet9ja.
While Osimhen has scored just the one goal so far this tournament, it’s hard not to bet on the Napoli superstar to get on the scoresheet at any given time. We expect that Osimhen will get his second goal of the tournament in this one and you can get odds of this to happen anytime throughout the match of 2.45 with Bet9ja. Come and back the Super Eagles to do it again!
Bet9ja Odds (at time of writing, 90 minutes only): Nigeria win: 1.74, Draw: 3.30, Angola win: 6.20
Booking codes:
Nigeria win: 65LKMJJ
Nigeria 1-0 win correct score (90 minutes): 65LKPC7
Osimhen to score anytime: 65LKR8V
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by Loveth Agboma
Nigeria 1 Angola 2