AFCON: Should The Super Eagles Be Scared Of Egypt?

• AFCON: Should the Super Eagles be scared of Egypt?

On Sunday, the African Cup of Nations officially kicks off in far away Cameroun, but Nigeria won’t be playing until next week Tuesday, and they will be playing against the Pharaohs of Egypt, in a cracking group D opening fixture. A lot of football analysts have tipped the Eagles to lose to the Egyptians in their opening match of the competition, with only a few tipping the Nigerian team to win. Yes, they may be right, considering that the Egyptians are one of the football giants in the world, and they have a strong team, ready to compete and fight for the trophy; but then, the Super Eagles are also blessed with footballers who can make a difference on the day. So, with the two teams poised to slug it out next week, should Nigerians be scared that there darling team might fall short in their opening game of the competition?

A look at both team’s history in AFCON

The Pharaohs of Egypt have been frequent participants in AFCON competitions since it started in 1957, having played in 25 out of 33 editions, and they are the only African team to boast of such a record. They won the inaugural edition in 1957, and successfully defended it two years later. The Egyptians have won 7 African Cup of Nations titles, with three of those coming in 2006, 2008, and 2010.

The Super Eagles also have a good history in the AFCON competitions, as they have missed just five editions since they started participating in the competition since 1963. In 1980, they became champions of the competition, a feat they repeated in 1994 and 2013. They have a good record of never exiting the competition before the quarterfinals. They have always being tagged as favourites whenever the competition is to hold, together with the Pharaohs of Egypt.

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What to expect on Tuesday

On Tuesday, when the Super Eagles take on Egypt, the world should expect to watch good, sweet, flowing football, as that is what both teams will produce. The fear of Salah and company lording it over the Eagles may seem impossible that day, because the Super Eagles have interesting strikers to keep the Egyptians busy. Good enough, the moral in the Super Eagles camp is in high mood, judging by what the skipper of the team, Ahmed Musa told media men recently.

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EKO HOT BLOG reports that when told that a lot of Nigerians were scared of a humiliation for the boys on Tuesday, Ahmed Musa responded thus: “Everyone is talking about (Mo) Salah, but if you look at our team, we have a lot of players they would be worried about, so we don’t have to think about Salah; they have to think about our own players.”

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