The Super Eagles are back in action this week, with two crucial 2023 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers.
Nigeria first host Guinea-Bissau on Friday before playing the same nation away on 27 March. Manager Jose Peseiro will be hoping his side can keep up their 100% record in Group A but with Guinea-Bissau just two points behind in second, Nigeria can’t afford any slip ups.
We caught up with Bet9ja Ambassador and former Super Eagles striker Victor Ikpeba, to get his thoughts on the Nigeria squad and the upcoming qualifiers.
VI: The squad comprises of all the usual suspects. All the key players are there, but there’s also a bit of a reboot with the likes of captain William Troost-Ekong missing.
We have two new goalkeepers in the squad and one of them, Kingsley Aniagboso, isn’t playing in the top division in Nigeria which has caused some controversy.
I think the goalkeeping position is the one area that the Super Eagles isn’t so strong in and where we have struggled in the past few years. So I feel having two new goalkeepers in the squad is a good thing and the manager needs good competition.
Big names miss out
There have been some in-form players left out too. Emmanuel Dennis and Gift Orban have been among the goals recently but don’t make the squad this time around. I’m not surprised because Orban especially will have to be patient. We have such depth in attack but if these two keep scoring, then there will be an opportunity for them to be selected in the future.
There has been a new directive from the Nigeria Football Federation about only selecting a certain amount of players from Europe because the cost of the transport is obviously a big burden for the Federation. No more than 20 players will be European based.
I think using national talent is the right way to go for the Federation. To have a full squad of players from abroad where many of them won’t even get any minutes is a waste of money. It’s expensive to bring players from abroad especially when they don’t play so I think it’s the right thing to do and cut costs.
It also provides an opportunity for local and national players to make a name for themselves and we must encourage these players too so they know if they do well in Nigeria, they will get a chance with the national team.
No easy game
Of course, there’s a lot of in-form and big name players from Europe in this squad. But African football is different from European football. The physicality of the game in Africa makes it difficult to play and a lot of these players haven’t played together for a long time now.
I think we have to put behind the disappointment of not qualifying for the World Cup and get focused for the AFCON. There needs to be motivation and desire to win these games because we’re going to play against opponents who are ready to park the bus.
There are some top class players in this Nigeria squad so it’s for them to go out and play with freedom but it won’t be easy. The manager will have to think about how he wants to play tactically. The Nigerians tend to favour the 4-3-3 formation. But the trouble with this formation is that it’s so easy to defend against the wingers when you play like this, because of the way African teams play with man-to-man marking.
The easiest way to play against these types of teams is to score as quick as possible and make the game much easier. We’ve seen in the recent past that if we don’t score early then the harder it can be. A great example of this was the shocking defeat to Central African Republic in 2021.
There are no minnows in African football anymore and the players should be well aware of this. We’re a big name team in Africa and we’re always the team to beat for the smaller nations. If the likes of Morocco and Senegal can reach the knock-out stages in the World Cup, then why can’t Nigeria?
Score prediction
The Guinea-Bissau players will want to make a name for themselves which is why they will make it tough for Nigeria. But with Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman in such good form, we will surely have too much for the side ranked 118th in the FIFA World Rankings.
I believe it will be 3-0 to Nigeria and Osimhen will score first. Of course, there’s still Kelechi Iheanacho and Samuel Chukwueze who will be wanting to get minutes and can easily score. If I had a crystal ball, I would say Nigeria will get six points from the two matches against Guinea-Bissau.
Ikpeba prediction: Nigeria 3-0 Guinea-Bissau. Bet9ja Odds (at time of writing): 8.20
Osimhen First Goalscorer Odds: 3.01
Bet on Nigeria vs Guinea-Bissau
