SHOWDOWN: Nigeria, Algeria set Dakar on fire as U-23 AFCON draws to an end News

Navigation: Home / News / News / SHOWDOWN: Nigeria, Algeria set Dakar on fire as U-23 AFCON draws to an end

SHOWDOWN: Nigeria, Algeria set Dakar on fire as U-23 AFCON draws to an end

By News Express on December 12, 2015

Nigeria’s Under-23 football team, otherwise known as Dream Team VI, will slug it out with Algeria in today’s final game of the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) at the Stade Léopold Sédar Senghor, Dakar in Senegal. It will be a cracker of a final match that will likely see fans and the bench of both teams on edge from the blast of the whistle at 8pm Nigerian time.

The two sides are old-time customers, so they will go for each other’s throat from the beginning of proceedings in a desperate bid to draw the first blood. It is anticipated that it would be heavy onslaught all the way signifying the prowess of both teams and pride of place in continental football.

Nigeria cannot afford to lose the game having come thus far through thick and thin. Victory would be the icing on the cake as both sides have already secured slots at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil.

It is gladdening to note that both head coach Samson Siasia and his players are all focused for today’s game and assuring that they would not leave anything for chance.

According to reports coming out from the camp, the atmosphere is positively more than what obtained in the previous games. The players are talking about the encounter animatedly. This is as a result of the fact that all their outstanding allowances have been fully paid and new motivation dangled before them by the Sports Minister, Solomon Darlong. Therefore the spirit is at an all-time high.

The other good news is that the boys and their crew have cautioned themselves that there won’t be any kind of distraction whatsoever until the battle of Dakar is won. Again, they have resolved that there won’t be any under-rating or over-rating of the day’s opponents as they are familiar foes.

If the last group game of the competition is any measure to rely upon then it will be another difficult clash. Dream Team VI’s opponents today are desperate as this is the first time they would be bearing Africa’s flag to the Olympics football event. The last time the country took part in the biggest sporting event in the world was at the Moscow, Russia, during the 1980 Games. There, these lads from North Africa will not let go as they would want it double: the crown and the ticket. Before this competition, the biggest undoing for Coach Samson Siasia’s team was that they were not scoring goals despite the many chances they created. The reassuring point is that Siasia has found an antidote to the collapsing defence, which now holds on tighter and would wall off the ever advancing Algerian attackers.

The above has been reinforced by the Algeria U-23 assistant coach and former international star Abdelhafid Tasfaout, who described the clash as a final the memory of which will linger on for many years to come.

Incidentally, Nigeria and Algeria also clashed four years ago in the same competition in Morocco, Nigeria won 4-1. There is no hiding the fact that Algeria’s Swiss coach, Pierre-Andre Schurmann, will again assemble a very tactically sound team with the lively Zinedine Ferhat, the team’s standout star with two goals. They will not make it easy for Nigeria.

Head or tail, whatever is the case, the Siasia boys know they have to get a result against Algeria. Siasia knows the tactics that he applied that confused the more enterprising host nation Senegal which swung victory to Nigeria’s side during the crunch semi-finals. He may well need to draft more defensive players into the midfield, where Oghenekaro Etebo, skipper Azubuike Okechukwu and Usman Mohammed are all attack-minded, while ordering the defence to be at alert to effectively ward off any danger from the invaders from North Africa.

So who smiles home at the end of the end of the day? The answer lies at the other side of the 90 minutes.

•Photo shows Dream Team VI striker Victor Osimhen. Will he and Nigeria celebrate again tonight?

Source News Express

Posted December 12, 2015