By BARNABAS DANLADI & EMMANUEL ISAGBAH
As the African Cup of Nations (AFCON), kicked off on the 13th January 2024 in Ivory Coast with twenty four countries participating in the show down, our correspondents went round the town to sample the opinions of football enthusiasts on the African prestigious championship.
According to Nandom Dasle Tuwan, a football analyst Senegal who are the defending champions might likely reclaim their trophy.
“Senegal began their defense by winning 3 – 0 against 10 – man of Gambia, which took place within five minutes, as Pape Gueye scored the opener with a strike,” he said.
While commenting on the Super Eagle’s game against Equatorial Guinea, he maintained that their performance was not encouraging to start with.
Nandom said “Why will the Nigeria Super Eagles allow Equatorial Guinea to kick in the first goal, before equalising, ending the game with 1 – 1 draw.”
Nandom also opined that the Super Eagles have many foreign based players in the team that should be able to help in winning this trophy. With the likes of Victor Oshimen who is the African player of the year, and others like Alex Iwobi, Ahmed Musa and Trust Ekong. Nigeria should be able to win this trophy,” he stated.
He further stated that the Eagles had a good history in AFCON with 3 wins.
“In 1980, 1994 and 2013, Super Eagles were able to win the African Cup of Nations, therefore they should try their best to bring home a trophy in this year’s tournament,” he concluded.
Also, Mr Ezra Simon Godit, 1st Vice Chairman, Plateau State Football Association ( PFA) said that Senegal can defend their Cup. “Senegal is the only team that scored many goals so far in the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations, therefore they can reclaim their trophy,” he opined.
While deliberating on the Super Eagles’ performance in the showdown, he said they failed in their first game, even though they performed better in their second game, but they need to work more in order to cross the group stages.
” Why will Nigeria lose focus and allow Equatorial Guinea to take them by surprise before they realised their mistake and equalise within 5 minutes”.
He further said that Oshimen who is the African best, will take the team to the finals and a lot is expected from him to deliver and I believe he’s capable of handling any situation.
On his part, Prince Blessing, a football fan disclosed that why Eagles drew with Equatorial Guinea was as a result of wrong selection and formation from the Technical Adviser.
He maintained that Senegal is determined to reclaim their trophy. Pointing at the fact that the way they played in their first match proves that they can stand a chance of winning the trophy,” he ended.
