IKENWA NNABUOGOR sings the victory songs for the Super Eagles whose bragging rights are still well saved in the bank to nick it tonight in this second round tie in the good old Garoua…
The odds are in the favour of the Super Eagles from Nigeria at least on paper to beat the Eagles from the historical Carthage in the North African country of Tunisia to edge this second round tie this evening in Garoua to move on to the quarter-finals.
Carthage, meaning New Town or New City, and in the present day Tunis, known for their vibrant trading posts in the mediaval times when the Phoenicians networked through trade, appears not the best place to do business with the Eagles from Nigeria, south of the Sahara.
Exchanges in the African Cup of Nations finals put Super Eagles in the driving seat, only losing once in five previous meetings, with the biggest winning margin of 4-2 achieved before home fans in Lagos at 2000 AFCON finals.
Coach Augustine Eguavoen stormed Garoua with the most exciting team of the 2021 edition who have shown character yet to be matched by any of the participating countries.
‘Home’, for now is Garoua for ‘Cerezo’ and his rampaging boys and Tunisia are not looking like stopping their flight to the quarter-finals and perhaps the title on February 6 in Yaounde.
The last time out was a 1-1 stalemate in a friendly in Austria in 2020 and it wasn’t this Eagles that were in the fight of the Eagles as Gernot Rohr’s have since given way to Eguavoen’s for a total new Eagles who take no prisoners.
Bad news for the North Africans who fought through difficult heat of Limbe for this match up, should Super Eagles bring on the Egypt treatment against their neighbours.
The heat threat is still here to make life equally difficult for the exciting slippery Carthage Eagles as Garoua in the northern region of Cameroon though the 8pm time kick off could offer some much needed respite.
Covid19 concerns were some of the headaches that threatened Tunisia but did well to at least advance to the knock out rounds but the tales of losing another 12 players to Covid19 appears more comical and diversionary than real as the figure has remained unofficial.
The North Africans trade antics perfectly well and Tunisians exported antics in tons from their Carthage trading posts but the Super Eagles will not be interested to do antics business with them this evening.
Eguavoen’s total attacking philosophy is still academic and no amount of distractions from the Tunisians will have any effect on this superb mobile team that has made more friends than foes in hot Garoua.
The wing plays will be back in full force once again as the wing general Moses Simon will be expected to lead his battleship again from the left side of the wing while it will be expected that Villarreal ace Samuel Chukwueze will find the “Moses” in him to unleash more firepower from the wings.
‘Cerezo’ is not short of options in his dangerous wing philosophy as the Greece-based Henry Onyekuru could be a joker any day.
He could be saving the former Anderlecht star for last, who knows?
CSKA Moscow winger Chidera Ejuke may be surprised himself that he’s yet to bring on his magic or could he be under the fiery shadow of ‘Holy’ Simon Moses?
Tunisia could be in serious trouble should the trio of Chukwueze, Ejuke and Onyekuru find their rhythms to click on their auxillary gears to punish their adversaries from North Africa.
Could they be saving all those for this big Eagles’ fight?
Non-playing captain Musa Ahmed could also bring on his experience from the dug out depending on the colour of the game.
As slippery as the Carthage Eagles have shown to be in the group stage, Super Eagles’ defence line led by stand- in captain William Troost-Ekong is expected to keep them at bay with the support from the mobile full backs – Ola Aina and Zaidu Sanusi – as well as his centre back partner, vastly improved Kenneth Omeruo whose leadership and experience have kept the team going.
Pundits, fans and former AFCON stars may have already crowned Super Eagles champions after the group games but it remains to be seen if the Super Eagles will confirm their champions tag starting with this crucial tie against Tunisia.
Scaling this in the friendly Garoua temporary base will go a way to prove them wrong or dismiss as mere wishful thinking.
‘Cerezo’ sure got a huge task ahead but the thoughts of equalling a record will always spur him on after all he got trusted lieutenants.
He could still be the third behind Egypt’s Mahmoud El-Gohari and Stephen Keshi in the honour’s list as winning the AFCON title as a player and a coach.
