Nigeria will strive to avoid a repeat of 2021 as they clash with Mozambique in the sixth Round of 16 match of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations being hosted by Morocco.
At Cameroon 2021 edition of the continent’s flagship competition, the Super Eagles demolished all oppositions — beating Egypt 1-0 in their opening match, 3-1 against Sudan and wrapping it up with 2-0 versus Guinea Bissau to set up a Round of 16 fixture with Tunisia. who scrapped through as one of the four best third placed finishers.
The Eagles of Carthage had managed only a win (4-0 versus Mauritania) and lost to Mali and The Gambia by a lone goal each way in Group F. No one could therefore blame Nigerian fans and other Super Eagles’ lovers for banking on Augustine Eguavoen’s squad to make mince meat of Tunisia in the first knock phase of Cameroon 2021.
But football chose to teach the Super Eagles and their supporters a big lesson about it unpredictable nature. In spite of all the foray of the Nigerian team, the first half ended goalless. Two minutes into the restart, winger Youssef Msakni silenced the Nigerian supporters at the Roumdé Adjia Stadium in Garoua, the port city in northern Cameroon. All efforts to level up failed. And Eguavoen and his contingent packed their bags to return to their different bases.
In the clash against Mozambique this evening, the Class of 2025 Super Eagles will be on familiar grounds having played all their group matches at the 45,000-capacity Complexe sportif de Fès in Fès, the city in northern inland Morocco, and capital of the Fez-Meknes administrative region. At this stadium, Nigeria pipped Tanzania 2-1 in the opening fixture of Group C, went from 3-0 ahead to almost lost to Tunisia but hanged on 3-2, and overwhelmed Uganda 3-1 in the final group game.
It’s been 13 years and six editions ago that Nigeria last won AFCON. Having failed to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals (as well as the episode before it), the only way the Super Eagles can assuage the anger of their fans is to go a step ahead of their last appearance in the competition when they were stopped in the showpiece match by Cote d’Ivoire, who came from behind to triumph 2-1 to host and win the edition.
Ahead of this Round of 16 fixture, top striker Victor Osimhen warned Mozambique and other Super Eagles for the 2025 crown that the team possess the quality to beat any opponent as they pursue a fourth continental title and a first since 2013.
Following the 3-1 win over Uganda, the Galatasaray superstar admitted: ‘Yes, I would count my country as one of the favourites.
‘We are one of the most feared teams in this tournament. Any team can come and play us. If they are good, they can scale through, but if they are not, we can trample on any team because this team has the quality to do damage to any opponent’.
Despite the overwhelming self belief, the 27-year-old is, however, preaching caution and humility.
‘We respect every team, but we fear nobody’, he said, adding that the knockout phase would pose tougher challenges.
He revealed that the squad remind themselves in training that they ‘came to Morocco to win the trophy.
‘We don’t get carried away by the hype. There is still a lot of work to do. We are taking it game by game’.
Osimhen, whose solitary goal in the tournament came against Tunisia in their second group game, wore the captain’s armband for the first time at international level after head coach Eric Chelle rotated his squad in the last group game against Uganda.
He responded to that honour: ‘It feels good. It comes with huge responsibility, but it helped me understand why the captain feels so happy whenever we win’.
The Super Eagles in Morocco boast of a star-studded squad that features winners of two of the last three African Footballer of the Year Awards: Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen, with Raphael Onyedika, Calvin Bassey, Samuel Chukwueze, and Alex Iwobi in the supporting cast.
Tonight’s opponents, Mozambique secured their progress with a 3-2 win over Gabon, ending a 40-year wait for a victory at the continental finals. They were third behind Cameroon and Cote d’Ivoire in Group F.
Monday’s match will be the Mambas’ toughest test to date, as they seek a maiden win over Nigeria, who have won four of five previous encounters and drawn once.
Nigeria enter the knockout stage with the tournament’s most prolific attack, having scored eight goals across three group matches, and will look to continue that form against their opponents.
The winners between Nigeria and Mozambique will face either Algeria or DR Congo in Saturday’s third quarterfinal.
