AFCON

Milestone Goal Awaits Super Eagles In Their 100th AFCON Match –

Published

8 months ago

January 21, 2024

Milestone Goal Awaits Super Eagles In Their 100th AFCON Match -

BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

Super Eagles need to win their Monday match for a realistic chance of topping Group A and remain in Abidjan where their Round of 16 opponent will be any of the third placed teams in groups C, D or E.

Their last group match against Guinea Bissau is their 100^th match since their debut in 1963.

The century match is not the only milestone ahead. Winning the match entails scoring of goals. Super Eagles first goal on Monday will be the team’s 140^th since their 1963 debut.

Therefore, who ever opens scoring for the Super Eagles will be registering the team’s 140^th goal in the history of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Nigeria’s haul is currently 139. When Asuquo Ekpe scored against Egypt in Kumasi in 1963 to bring scoreline to 3-1 in an eventual 6-3 loss, he became the first Nigerian to score at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Obinna Nsofor scored Nigeria’s 100^th goal when he found the net in the sixth minute of a quarter-final match with Tunisia on 6 February 2006 in Port Said in Egypt. The match ended 1-1 and Nigeria went ahead 5-6 penalties.

Nwankwo Kanu’s spot kick, which was he hesitatingly took as the only person who had not taken partook in the penalty shootout, happened to be the last of the kicks.

It was the only time the former African Footballer of the Year found the net in five editions of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Austin Jay Jay Okocha scored the milestone 1,000^th goal in the Africa Cup of Nations history when he converted from the penalty spot in the 4-0 defeat of South Africa in 2004 in Tunisia.

Nigeria’s Africa Cup of Nations milestone goals

No.	Scorer	Match	Goal	Date
1^st	Asuquo Ekpe	Egypt 6-3 Nigeria	1-3	Nov. 24, 1963
10^th	Muda Lawal	Guinea1-1 Nigeria	0-1	Mar. 9, 1976
20^th	Eyo Martins	Uganda 2-1 Nigeria	1-1	Mar. 14, 1978
30^th	Stephen Keshi	Ethiopia 3-0 Nigeria	1-0	Mar. 7, 1982
40^th	Muda Lawal	Cameroon 3-1 Nigeria	0-1	Mar. 18,1984
50^th	Rashidi Yekini	Zambia 0-2 Nigeria	2-0	Mar. 12, 1990
60^th	Rashidi Yekini	Gabon 0-3 Nigeria	3-0	Mar. 26, 1994
70^th	Victor Ikpeba	Tunisia 2-4 Nigeria	1-3	Jan. 23, 2000
80th	Julius Aghahowa	Algeria 0-1 Nigeria	1-0	Jan 21, 2002
90^th	John Utaka	Benin 1-2 Nigeria	1-2	Feb. 4, 2004
100^th	Obinna Nsofor	Tunisia 1-1 Nigeria	0-1	Feb. 4, 2006
110^th	Obinna Nsofor	Algeria 0-1 Nigeria	1-0	Jan. 30, 2010
120^th	Ahmed Musa	Mali 1-4 Nigeria	1-4	Feb. 6, 2013
130^th	Odion Ighalo	Tunisia 0-1 Nigeria	0-1	Jul. 17, 2019
140^th	????	Guinea Bissau v. Nigeria	????	Jan. 22, 2024

AFCON

Present and Past as CAF Coaches Symposium unites Rohr, Peseiro and Eguavoen

Published

4 days ago

September 12, 2024

Kunle Solaja

The on-going CAF AFCON Cote d’Ivoire 2023 Coaches Symposium in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire has brought together, the last three coaches that handled the Nigeria national football team.

Gernot Rohr, Jose Peseiro and Austin Eguavoen are part of the the elite coaches currently gathered in Abidjan.

Gernot Rohr whose tenure of 5 years and 55 matches is the longest ever by any coach in Nigeria, is currently handling Nigeria’s Africa Cupof Nations and World Cup qualifying rivals, Benin Republic. He was succeeded in the interim by Austin Eguavoen who is currently having another interim stint.

Peseiro left his position after the Africa Cup of Nations

AFCON

Rwanda newspaper gives 5 lessons gleaned from Rwanda-Nigeria clash

Published

4 days ago

September 12, 2024

Kunle Solaja

The goalless outing of Rwanda and Nigeria in Tuesday’s Africa Cup of Nations’ qualifying match has thrown up some lessons, according to New Times, the leading newspaper in Rwanda.

New Times reckons that both teams put up a great show as Amavubi showed their pedigree against one of the giants in African football. It then pointed out the five elements that shaped the game.

Amavubi played with total confidence

No African country comes close to Nigeria in terms of “big players” country. Almost all their players are playing for top clubs in Europe’s top leagues but that did not deter Frank Spittler’s men.

They played with total confidence and self-belief. At a point in the game, Rwanda and APR FC left-back Claude Niyomugabo was mesmerizing former Chelsea and Lazio player Ola Aina who is now with Nottingham forest to the point that he was booked his jersey when he couldn’t match his pace.

Confidence among Rwandan players was high and it helped them to get goalless draw results.

Bizimana, the midfield controller

The Amavubi skipper pocketed Nigerian midfield led by Wilfred Ndidi. He run a one-man show in the middle of the pitch as he was unplayable.

His passes and tackles were superb. He track-backed several times as deep as his own penalty box to win balls.

Lookman’s danger left Rwandan defense shaking

Victor Osimhen is arguably Nigeria’s star man but it is clear that Ademola Lookman is the most dangerous player in the team.

He could hold on the ball, dribble, shoot and pass. The Atalanta winger was the best player for the visitors as he gave Amavubi a tough time before being substituted in the 89th minute for Taiwo Awoniyi.

Amavubi’s attacking problem

“The only problem with my team is in attack. You could see the difference between my attackers and the Nigerian attackers but that is what we have now. Maybe it is the Nigerian attackers who should have played against the Nigerian defenders. We created some chances but couldn’t score.”

These were some of the comments made by Amavubi head coach Torsten Spittler in the post-match press conference.

Rwanda looked solid both at the back and in midfield but the likes of Innocent Nshuti and Gilbert Mugisha weren’t up to the task in attack.

They wasted three good chances that could have resulted in goals.

Goal scoring is a problem for Amavubi and Spittler is ready to find an antidote. The German gaffer was, however, happy that his team was able to create chances which is a sign of improvement.

Fiacre Ntwari’s heroics

The Amavubi shot stopper was the hero of the day for Rwanda, and he has showed why he is among the best goalkeepers in Africa now.

Against a rampaging Nigerian attack of Victor Boniface, Osimhen, Lookman, Awoniyi and Samuel Chukwueze among others, Ntwari pulled as many as nine superb saves to keep his side in the game.

The Kaizer Chiefs shot stopper was very cool in the posts as he prevented the Nigerian attackers from scoring.

Ntwari, is gradually carving a niche for himself and he is proving to be a key component of the Amavubi set up.

AFCON

Austin Eguavoen remains the ‘Big Boss’, says NFF

Published

5 days ago

September 11, 2024

Kunle Solaja

BY KUNLE SOLAJA

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has clarified the position of interim manager of the Super Eagles, Austin Eguavoen. “He is still in charge”, the NFF Head of Communications, Ademola Olajire told Sports Village Square, this Wednesday.

Austin Eguavoen who is the Technical Director at the NFF was drafted to handle the Super Eagles when the negotiation with Germany’s Bruno Labbadia broke down. Eguavoen, a former Super Eagles player and later coach was drafted to rescue the situation.

It was claimed that having executed the Super Eagles’ immediate assignments, his job was done. But the NFF spokesman has clarified that nothing has changed from the initial announcement concerning Eguavoen.

“He remains with the team and his is an employee of the NFF which has drafted him to the Super Eagles. He remains there until the federation takes another decision.

“He was surprised when we landed from our Kigali trip and I showed the trending news on the social media.”

The Super Eagles’ next assignment will be on MatchDay 3 of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers next month when the team hosts Libya in Uyo.