Eagles confident of ending hosts’ title ambitions
Contrary to reports in some online outlets, Super Eagles’ number one goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali, is eligible to play in the semifinals of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations against hosts, Morocco.
The match against the Atlas Lions will hold at the Prince Moulay Abdallah Stadium Rabat, today, starting by 8.00 p.m. There were reports on Monday that Nwabali had been ruled out of the game due to two accumulated yellow cards from previous matches in the championship. But the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) through Super Eagles’ Media Officer, Promise Efoghe, dismissed the report.
Efoghe told The Guardian that “Nwabali has only one yellow card from the knockout stage. He is not suspended because all the cards he received during the group phase of the competition do not count in the knockout stage. He is ready to defend Nigeria’s honours on Wednesday.”
However, team captain, Wilfred Ndidi, is suspended for today’s game because of the two yellow cards that he received in the knockout phase of the competition.
Ndidi’s place will be taken by Club Brugge’s midfielder, Raphael Onyedika. Looking forward to another successful game today, the NFF, yesterday, dismissed fears of possible biased officiating when the Super Eagles lock horns with hosts Atlas Lions of Morocco.
The NFF President, Ibrahim Gusau, said: “I do not have the same fears of the match officials being biased as some people have. I believe that the grass is always green and that the playing pitch is level. I do not see a situation in which the match officials will be working against any team’s interest.
“Last summer, we were here in Morocco, for the Women Africa Cup of Nations, and we played the host nation in the Final, even coming from two goals behind to achieve victory. There is nothing to fear. This is the highest level of football on the African continent, and the officials know that CAF as well as the whole world are watching, and will not do anything untoward.”
Gusau, who is also the president of WAFU B, spoke against the backdrop of widespread fears among Nigerians that the match officials could blatantly or surreptitiously work in favour of the host nation, which is looking for a second AFCON title after its maiden gong 50 years ago.
The Super Eagles camp continues to radiate confidence and self-belief ahead of the encounter, as the players keep strictly and professionally to their daily schedule at the Hotel Rihab and at the training ground – Complexe Sportif Mohamed VI.
Feelers from the Atlas Lions camp reveal that the players are in trepidation of the impact that Nigerian midfielder Alexander Iwobi can have on this night’s game.
Iwobi supplied 22 line-breaking passes in the second round game against Mozambique (which Nigeria won 4-0) and 14 against Algeria’s Desert Foxes in Saturday’s quarterfinal duel in Marrakech. Nigeria won both games, scoring six goals and conceding none.
The 29-year-old, who debuted for Nigeria against the Democratic Republic of Congo in a friendly in Belgium on October 8, 2015, also supplied the assists for Nigeria’s first two goals of the competition, in the 2-1 win over Tanzania in Fés on December 23. He will earn his 96th cap for the Super Eagles this night.
