President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has charged the Super Eagles to up their game as they prepare to face Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions in Round 16 of the ongoing delayed 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) at the Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny Stadium in Abidjan, Cote d’ivoire on Saturday.
The President’s message was conveyed to the team by the minister of sports development, Senator John Owan-Enoh, who spoke to the players via Zoom on Wednesday night.
Senator Enoh revealed President Tinubu said he was not impressed with the performance of the team in their last Group A match against Guinea-Bissau on Monday. Nigeria defeated Guinea-Bissau 1-0 in their final group A match to finish second behind Equatorial Guinea.
“One of the main reasons that made me have this call with you is the chance I had meeting with Mr President yesterday, I went to the Villa for something else and the president cornered me and said we (Eagles) managed to qualify and I said your Excellency, that is how we will be going until we win the tournament.” And he said, ‘tell our players I wasn’t too impressed in our last match but I know that now that they are off the Group stages, I know they are going to impress me more and more.’ That is what the president told me,” Enoh said.
“The president is actually watching your matches and he is urging you and he knows that there was a lot of consciousness at the Group stages and he knows that from the Round of 16 that they (Super Eagles) are going to be more and more impressive.”
Meanwhile, history, current form and turf familiarity are factors weighing heavily in favour of the Super Eagles as they confront the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon on Saturday.Cameroon played their group phase games in Yamoussoukro, and have now arrived in Cote d’Ivoire’s commercial and industrial capital for Saturday’s explosive encounter with three-time champions Nigeria.
Nigeria and Cameroon have clashed in 17 competitive matches since their first of such matches in 1962, which Nigeria won 3-1. Of those 17 matches, Cameroon have won only 4 – three of these in the Final matches of the Africa Cup of Nations in 1984, 1988 and 2000. The only other time Cameroon have beaten Nigeria in a competitive match was August 27,1989.
Nigeria have won nine of the other 13 matches, including a 2-1 defeat of Cameroon in the bronze medal-match of the 1992 AFCON and a 3-2 win in Alexandria at the 2019 AFCON Round of 16 clash.
More than the above, the Super Eagles presently boast the Africa Player of the Year in Victor Osimhen, and the Super Eagles have more familiarity with the Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, where they pipped Guinea Bissau 1-0 on Monday to make sure of their place in this competition’s Round of 16.
