{"id":57087,"date":"2022-01-09T12:31:53","date_gmt":"2022-01-09T11:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?p=57087"},"modified":"2022-01-09T12:12:02","modified_gmt":"2022-01-09T11:12:02","slug":"afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop","title":{"rendered":"AFCON 2021: Super Eagles \u2013 ready to fly or flop?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Africa, here we go again!<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the 33rd edition of the Cup of Nations begins in Cameroon, amid club vs country rows, the COVID-19 pandemic and insecurity in the host nation.<\/p>\n

The Indomitable Lions will open the tournament against Burkina Faso at the new 60,000-capacity Olembe Stadium in Yaounde.<\/p>\n

But most Nigerians\u2019 eyes and minds will be on Tuesday when the Super Eagles come up against Egypt.<\/p>\n

Of course, the Pharaohs, along with Senegal, Ghana, Algeria and Ivory Coast stand in the way of a fourth continental crown for Nigeria.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they top the group, I\u2019m confident they can go all the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they don\u2019t, it\u2019s hard to see them going past the R16,\u201d Colin Udoh, who is a former press officer of the Super Eagles, tells DAILY POST.<\/p>\n

The last time out in Egypt, the Eagles finished third behind Algeria and Senegal.<\/p>\n

It was a disappointing outing for Gernot Rohr\u2019s men, as they had looked imperious at times, with Odion Ighalo, Samuel Chukwueze and Wilfred Ndidi in brilliant form. It all came down to a gorgeous Riyad Mahrez free-kick in the semi-final, with virtually the last kick of the game.<\/p>\n

Rohr was sacked just before Nigeria confirmed their 28-man squad for the championship in Cameroon, which has notable absentees like Victor Osimhen, Leon Balogun, Dennis Emmanuel and Odion Ighalo. Three of those names are top strikers, who would have added goals and experience to Augustine Eguavoen\u2019s team.<\/p>\n

Now, Eguavoen has to make do with Henry Onyekuru, Peter Olayinka, etc in his quest for glory. The preparations have been typically shabby. The players barely had a training camp and there were no pre-tournament friendly matches arranged. Eguavoen now has to rely on his experience and sheer determination from the players.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our chances aren\u2019t really bright owing to the fact that the spine of the team is gone with the absence of Victor Osimhen, Leon Balogun and Jude Odion Ighalo,\u201d Oma Akatugba, a UEFA-licensed sports journalist, says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole inconsistency surrounding the preparation makes it more difficult. However, things can happen. 2013 AFCON success came against all expectations. That is what gives me hope. I would be happy to see this team surprise me.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlgeria is our biggest threat. We might face them if we come second in our group. In the group stage we have to pick Egypt as our biggest threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oluwashina Okeleji, who works with the BBC, is quick to temper expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cA semi-final finish for Nigeria will be a success with everything that shouldn\u2019t have gone wrong, that has gone wrong,\u201d he says matter-of-factly.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. Africa, here we go again! On Sunday, the 33rd edition of the Cup of Nations begins in Cameroon, amid club vs country rows, the COVID-19 pandemic and insecurity in the host nation. The Indomitable Lions will open the tournament against Burkina Faso at the new 60,000-capacity Olembe Stadium in Yaounde. But most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":57086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,28,18,26],"tags":[5907,1570,2140,254,453],"class_list":["post-57087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","category-twitter","tag-afcon-2021","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-nigeria-2","tag-nigeria","tag-super-eagles"],"yoast_head":"\nAFCON 2021: Super Eagles \u2013 ready to fly or flop? - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Africa, here we go again! On Sunday, the 33rd edition of the Cup of Nations begins in Cameroon, amid club vs country ro ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AFCON 2021: Super Eagles \u2013 ready to fly or flop?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa, here we go again! On Sunday, the 33rd edition of the Cup of Nations begins in Cameroon, amid club vs country ro ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-09T11:31:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/01\/img-61dac2e71ef43.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"AFCON 2021: Super Eagles \u2013 ready to fly or flop?\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-09T11:31:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop\"},\"wordCount\":457,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/01\/img-61dac2e71ef43.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"AFCON 2021\",\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Nigeria\",\"Nigeria\",\"super eagles\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"Sport\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop\",\"name\":\"AFCON 2021: Super Eagles \u2013 ready to fly or flop? - Nigeria\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/01\/img-61dac2e71ef43.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-09T11:31:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Africa, here we go again! On Sunday, the 33rd edition of the Cup of Nations begins in Cameroon, amid club vs country ro ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/01\/img-61dac2e71ef43.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/01\/img-61dac2e71ef43.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"AFCON 2021: Super Eagles \u2013 ready to fly or flop?\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"AFCON 2021: Super Eagles \u2013 ready to fly or flop?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\",\"name\":\"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"AFCON 2021: Super Eagles \u2013 ready to fly or flop? - Nigeria","description":"Africa, here we go again! On Sunday, the 33rd edition of the Cup of Nations begins in Cameroon, amid club vs country ro ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"AFCON 2021: Super Eagles \u2013 ready to fly or flop?","og_description":"Africa, here we go again! On Sunday, the 33rd edition of the Cup of Nations begins in Cameroon, amid club vs country ro ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop","og_site_name":"Nigeria","article_published_time":"2022-01-09T11:31:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/01\/img-61dac2e71ef43.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"AFCON 2021: Super Eagles \u2013 ready to fly or flop?","datePublished":"2022-01-09T11:31:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop"},"wordCount":457,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/01\/img-61dac2e71ef43.jpg","keywords":["AFCON 2021","Africa Press","Africa Press-Nigeria","Nigeria","super eagles"],"articleSection":["all news","homepage-english","Sport","twitter"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop","name":"AFCON 2021: Super Eagles \u2013 ready to fly or flop? - Nigeria","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/01\/img-61dac2e71ef43.jpg","datePublished":"2022-01-09T11:31:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Africa, here we go again! On Sunday, the 33rd edition of the Cup of Nations begins in Cameroon, amid club vs country ro ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/01\/img-61dac2e71ef43.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/01\/img-61dac2e71ef43.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"AFCON 2021: Super Eagles \u2013 ready to fly or flop?"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/afcon-2021-super-eagles-ready-to-fly-or-flop#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"AFCON 2021: Super Eagles \u2013 ready to fly or flop?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/","name":"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}