Nigeria secured a spot in the Last 16 of the 2023 African Cup Of Nations with a narrow victory over a game Guinea-Bissau side, placing them second in Group A.
The Super Eagles will be happy with seven points from their three matches, but had they managed to capitalise on the numerous chances that they created over the group stage could have challenged Equatorial Guinea’s free-scoring side for top spot.
We spoke to 1994 AFCON winner and Bet9ja Ambassador Victor Ikpeba after the match for his instant reaction to the win, Nigeria’s form so far, and some surprising underlying statistics relating to the Super Eagles.
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We’ve got work to do, but congratulations to the boys!
Sometimes in international competitions, it doesn’t matter how you get to your destination as long as you get there. Nigeria haven’t lived up to their potential yet in this tournament but there are reasons for positivity going forward.
We looked confident defensively across our three matches which is a big plus, but we need to show more offensively with the quality of players that we have. It seems strange that we have created the most big chances in the tournament and have the highest expected goals out of any team having scored just three goals.
We need a ruthless streak up front!
The underlying statistics for our defence are very strong as well. It looks like we just need Victor Osimhen to find his Napoli shooting boots before we start looking like a team that can truly win this competition!
I think that the absence of Victor Boniface has had an understated impact. Osimhen is the star man in the team but to have another lethal goalscorer who has been in fine form to pair him with would have taken a bit of pressure off him. I know that Kelechi Iheanacho is currently injured – it doesn’t make a huge amount of sense for me why he’s in the squad if he can’t contribute.
I am looking forward to the Last 16. There wasn’t much positivity surrounding The Super Eagles’ performances before the tournament but it’s been great to see the fans get behind the team after going unbeaten so far and proving some of the naysayers wrong.
This team can go far – we’ve seen already that AFCON is impossible to predict.
