It will be football with thrills and frills all over Africa this weekend as hostilities resume throughout the continent with national teams slugging it out for tickets to the 2012 African Nations Cup billed for Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
From Cairo in the north to Cape Town in the south and Addis Ababa in the East to Conakry in the West players will file out to the pitches, coaches will bark out instructions from the sidelines, fans will cheer and jeer from the stands just as the ball will not cease to roam the arena’s main theater in search of the goal post.
But for Nigerians, eyes will be glued to television sets as their side, the Super Eagles, one of Africa’s revered sides, take to the pitch in far away East Africa. The team tutored by Samson Siasia will tomorrow, confront Ethiopia in a game capable of sending them top of their elimination group which parade Guinea and Madagascar.
Nigeria is presently on six points, one behind leaders, Guinea who are yet to lose a match in the current qualifying series. Ethiopia is on four while Madagascar has only a point to show in the series so far.
Should Guinea fail to defeat Madagascar in Conakry and Nigeria succeeds in beating Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, the Super Eagles will assume leadership of their group going into the last two rounds of matches of the qualifiers.
But questions are, can Nigeria get the much needed win in Addis Ababa? And can Madagascar secure a win or at least a draw in Conakry to aid Nigeria up the log? Both results are possible but not certain as Guinea are not expected to fall at home when they have not failed to pick a point on the road so far in the qualifiers. Ethiopia on its part still has a good chance of making it to the competition in 2012 and as such will be expected to keep that hope alive by beating their West African opponents in order to reduce the gap between them and Nigeria to a point, racing into the last two rounds of games.
From the archives
In 1993, during the qualifiers for the Tunisia ‘94 Cup of Nations, Nigeria lost to Ethiopia 1-0 in Addis Ababa even though the Eagles later triumphed 6-0 in the reverse fixture in Lagos. But does it mean the Eagles don’t enjoy good result in Ethiopia judging by Records it is observed that when both met in the elimination series for the 1968 Mexico Olympics which Nigeria eventually qualified for, Nigeria beat the East Africans both home and away. It was 1-0 in Ethiopia against the hosts before Nigeria secured a 3-1 win at home in the return leg to progress 4-1 on aggregate. Also in 1983 Nigeria went to Addis Ababa and piped their hosts 1-0. And so, beating Ethiopia in their back yard is not a feat never achieved before now and may be possible tomorrow.
However, while the Nigerian team may go and secure a victory in Addis Ababa especially considering the pedigree and status of their players, a huge part of which ply their trade in Europe, Guinea still holds the ace to who snaps up the automatic slot for the 2012 fiesta.
Guinea can remain top of the log if they beat Madagascar in Conakry irrespective of what result Nigeria records in Addis Ababa. The French speaking side forced the Indian Ocean nation to a 1-1 draw in Antananarivo in March in the preceding fixture, so beating Madagascar tomorrow, seems a foregone conclusion at least on paper.
But first to the Addis Ababa battle. Ethiopia lost the reverse fixture 4-0 in Abuja to Nigeria via two goal each from Peter Utaka and Ikechukwu Uche. The hosts ordinarily should have all to play for like their visitors in this encounter but the humiliating defeat in Abuja could well bring about either of two things from the East Africans, it could inspire an impressive showing from the Walias Antelopes or cause them to put up a, run of the mill, performance.
But do the Walias Antelopes have the arsenal to shoot down the Eagles that made mince meat of Argentina last Wednesday? Can the Eagles repeat the form that saw them made mess of Lionel Messi’s national team? The answers can best be supplied tomorrow by the performance of the players and the input of their respective coaches, Samson Siasia of Nigeria and Ethiopia’s new gaffer, Belgian, Tom Saintfiet.
The squads
Nigeria will be welcoming the Ethiopians into a scary world tomorrow. A world of time tested and enterprising new look Eagles and of emerging world beaters. That world is the world of experienced defender and skipper, JosephYobo, of agile and reliable safe hands Vincent Enyeama, of the tenacious tornado, Taye Taiwo, of long-legged and elastic Dele Adeleye, of amiable Efe Ambrose, mesmerizing and tantalizing, Joel Obi, midfield marshalling Mikel Obi and enterprising Kalu Uche. That amazing world, is also one of a band of potential destructive attackers, the likes of dashing, scoring speed racer, Ahmed Musa, rugged striker Emmanuel Emenike, irrepressible, goal hungry Ike Uche, bullish forward, Victor Anichebe, sensational scorer Ekhigho Ehiosu just to mention a few – a heartbreaking world indeed and Argentina will no doubt affirm this as true.
For Ethiopia which called up 22 players ahead of this tie. Victory is inevitable but may well be unattainable judging by situations surrounding their team. The East Africans last Sunday were beaten 2-1 at home in an international friendly by Sudan three days before the Super Eagles surprised both their fans and foes by recording a first ever but massive win at senior level over Argentina in Abuja.
Nigeria mesmerized, outran and outplayed the two-time world champions and finally nailed then 4-1on Wednesday with a brace from Ike Uche and one each from the duo of Obinna Nsofor and Emmanuel Emenike. Siasia’s men will be taking that form into tomorrow’s game, a scary form for the Walias to face.
In Conakry Guinea will be without Camille Zayetta and Karamoko Cisse. Zayetta is suspended after receiving his second yellow card in the last match in Madagascar while Cisse, a member of the Guinea team to the 2008 Nations Cup in Ghana who currently plies his trade with Italian Serie B side, U.C. AlbinoLeffe will also be missing due to red card received.
For Madagascar, reports already have it that they will be parading largely the same team that failed to make hay at home in March when they confronted the Syli Nationales, drawing that tie 1-1 and that could well sum up what to expect.
Already, the Guineans have been reported to have given the South Africans a dose of what possibly awaits them at the national Stadium in Conakry when they clash tomorrow. The West Africans have been reported by Guineenews.com as booking for their visitors a hotel short of FIFA standard. Though that was reported as the Sports Minister, Titi Camara’s fault, it all comes down to the Guineans advantage if the Barea as the Madagascar national senior team is also known is negatively affected by the treatment.
On paper Guinea are favourites to clinch maximum points in this encounter. They won the only game they have played at home so far in this series, beating Nigeria 1-0 last October. They have scored a total six goals and conceded just two in three matches. But Madagascar have scored only one goal so far and conceded four.
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