This year’s edition of the Africa Cup of Nations came to an end on Sunday evening with the host nation Ivory Coast going on to win against Nigeria.
While the loss will come with disappointment for the players and supporters of the Super Eagles, there are multiple positive takeaways to focus on following on from the tournament. For this reason, we’ve picked out five reasons why you should be proud of the Super Eagles second place finish in this year’s AFCON:
1 – DEFENSIVE SOLIDITY
One of the major takeaways from the tournament for Nigeria was their immense defensive record throughout the competition. After conceding in their first game against Equatorial Guinea, which they went on to draw 1-1, coach Jose Peseiro made a tactical change which saw his side move into playing with a back three for the rest of the games.
This resulted in the outstanding Stanley Nwabali conceding just three goals in the following six games, leaving them with the joint-third least goals conceded of any team in the entire competition while also playing the most games possible.
2 – BUILDING EXPERIENCE
Nigeria came into this tournament with it’s fair share of players who had little to no experience competing at an AFCON tournament. Key players such as Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman, Frank Onyeka and many more had either never played in an AFCON before or had extremely limited minutes, Osimhen for example had played just 45 minutes of AFCON action prior to this tournament.
Having been able to participate in this year’s competition will now leave these players with huge experience in how to compete at future AFCON’s, and this could be vital if Nigeria are to go on and win a tournament in the near future.
3 – IMMENSE SUPPORT
The supporters play arguably the biggest role when it comes to pushing their side on to bigger and better things in football, and there aren’t many who match up to the immense support that Nigeria’s fans give their side.
The support has been simply remarkable throughout the tournament and while it may not have ended in the fashion that anyone involved with the Super Eagles would have wanted, the incredible levels of support should be something that everyone is proud of.
4 – BREAKTHROUGH OF ADEMOLA LOOKMAN
Prior to the tournament Ademola Lookman had failed to truly establish himself as one of the country’s greatest stars, but this year’s competition has seen Lookman rise to the occasion.
The Atalanta forward’s three goals at this year’s AFCON has seen his tally go from just two for his country to five goals in his 18 appearances, and the importance of the goals cannot go unnoticed. Scoring both goals in the round of 16 tie against Cameroon and the only goal of the 1-0 quarter-final victory over Angola saw Lookman push his side towards the final.
This breakthrough is likely to leave Lookman as one of Nigeria’s main players from now on, and his fantastic contribution in this year’s AFCON is something he’ll be hoping to replicate in future tournaments.
5 – INSPIRATION FOR THE YOUTH
While Nigeria are one of the most successful countries to have ever participated in the Africa Cup of Nations, the youth of this generation may not have seen this success in recent years. Nigeria last won the competition back in 2013 and have since failed to qualify in 2015 and 2017, finished third in 2019 and crashed out in the round of 16 in 2021.
This leaves this year’s AFCON as Nigeria’s most successful result in AFCON in over a decade, and this is sure to inspire this generation’s youth leaving Nigeria with a bright future to go on and continue their fantastic record in Africa’s biggest competition.
