With few hours to the first quarter final match between the Super Eagles of Nigeria and the Palanga Negras of Angola at the ongoing AFCON in Ivory Coast, the three-time African champions have been urged to step up their game and approach the game with every sense of seriousness and discipline right from the blast of the whistle.
Former Green Eagles player and 1988 AFCON silver medalist, Folorunso Okenla, said Nigeria as the best ranked team among the left in the competition, has all it takes to cruise to the AFCON final with the players at her disposal.
According to Okenla, with the likes of tournament favourites Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana already out of the way, the AFCON is for the Eagles to lose but first, they must take the Angola game like another cup final.
Okenla said Nigerians expect much from the players who have shown great commitment, doggedness and the determination to succeed and have improved with each game as the tournament progresses. He advised them to find ways of neutralising the duo of Angola danger men, Justin Dala and Mbalulu who are the engine room of the Palanga Negras.
“It’s actually great that Nigeria has another unique opportunity to play what I call yet another final in the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) having successfully knocked out the dreaded Lions of Cameroon. Now, we have the Angolans to contend with.
“If my memory serves me right, I don’t remember Nigeria ever playing Angola at AFCON unlike playing us during the World Cup qualifiers. But having said that, it’s still a match that must be taken much more seriously than the Cameroonians match because now we are edging closer to coming to the finals of AFCON. Once we are able to go through this, we’ll be in the semi-finals. So, it’s even a much bigger task if you ask me and I believe that with the current state of the Super Eagles, blazing on all cylinders, they will definitely deliver yet another great performance.
“Now we have Osimhen and other players coming out delivering, as I would call it, a sterling performance in all aspects of the game, defending and attacking as a team, communicating effectively well as you can see right from the goalkeeper to the captain who has done wonderfully well. I know and believe that they will go into this match knowing full well that they are edging very very close to winning and coming up for a medal be it gold, silver or bronze.
“The Angolans have also been able to prove to everybody that they are a force to be reckoned with. They score goals freely, they play compact football. They have in Justin Dala a striker to be very proud of and they also have Mbalulu who is an energetic and all and all player. They have a good team that can hit you on the break but I believe our defence will definitely be stronger in this match than they have ever been.
“Unfortunately, I’m not sure if our goalkeeper (Nwabali) will be able to make it or not but he has actually done well for the time he has spent on the pitch. But if he’s unable to come up, whoever is coming in will definitely not want to let himself down or let the nation down. I’m interested in seeing Nigeria going through to the semi finals. I’ll be urging the players to keep their foot on the pedals, press forward as hard as they possibly can to crack the Angolans as early as they can and build on whatever it is they can do going into the latter part of the game so that we can convincingly qualify for the semi finals.
“It is a chance for Nigeria to win this tournament as all those considered to be favourites are already out of the competition. Senegal, Cameroon, Egypt, Morocco and Ghana are all out. So this tournament is for Nigeria to lose. It is in our hands. We have got every opportunity now to win and bring the cup home in 2024 for the government and the people of Nigeria to have something big to celebrate on the African continent in a positive manner. I see us winning by two goals to nothing,” Okenla exclusively told Sporting Tribune from his base in the United States.
Sporting Tribune recalls that Angola has been Nigeria’s nemesis in the past. On Saturday, August 12, 1989 at the National Stadium in Lagos, though the Super Eagles won by 1-0 during a qualifier for 1990 World Cup hosted by Italy, Nigeria lost an illustrious and influential player in the person of Samuel Okwaraji who slumped and died on the pitch of play.
The Angolans also stopped Nigeria from qualifying for the 2006 World Cup edging Nigeria out on head-to-head holding the Eagles to a draw at the Sani Abacha Stadium in Kano. The last meeting between Nigeria and Angola on January 11, 2012 ended in a stalemate.