Three-time African champions Super Eagles of Nigeria defeated the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon 2-0 in the last-16 to progress to the quarter-finals of the ongoing Africa Cup on Nations (AFCON) in Ivory Coast. That was a third consecutive victory in this tournament and with decades of AFCON history under their belt, Nigeria enter this match as red hot favourites to progress, backed by their formidable record in AFCON quarter-finals since the introduction of the final eight in 1992 (W9, L1).
Head coach José Peseiro has been adamant that his side aren’t looking any further ahead than their next game, declaring all eight quarter-finalists are genuine title contenders. Despite being coy on his side’s chances, if Nigeria can keep up their impressive run of three clean sheets at this tournament, Peseiro ought to be confident of advancing to the semi-finals, not least because Nigeria have only drawn one scoring blank from their last 12 AFCON fixtures at the finals.
Ironically, Angola’s most recent meeting with Nigeria was in a quarter-final, where they lost 2-1 after extra time, but in the 2018 African Nations Championship which is exclusive to players who play on the African continent.
The full strength national teams haven’t met in a competitive game their two legged World Cup qualification 19 years ago, when Angola prevented Nigeria from qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cups in Germany.
Having already recorded their most successful group stage at an AFCON, Angola pressed ahead with a 3-0 demolition of Namibia to continue their pursuit of a maiden semi-finals appearance, the Angolans remain unbeaten in their last 10 games.
Players to watch: After Ademola Lookman set up Victor Osimhen for Nigeria’s first goal of the tournament, Osimhen returned the favour in their most recent outing.
With doubles in their wins over both Namibia and Mauritania, Gelson Dala is the second leading scorer in the tournament with four goals and one assist.
The game will go down at Stade Felix Houphouet Boigny stadium at 6pm Nigerian time.
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Nigeria 1-1 Angola
Nigeria 2-0 Angola