AFCON 2019: Nigeria, Cameroon Set For Royale Battle In Alexandria
Three –time champions Nigeria and five –time winners Cameroon go toe-to-toe in an Africa Cup of Nations Round of 16 match that could well determine the future of new squads being built by both nations.
Both teams finished runner –up in their respective groups despite being rated to top, and low fire power is a constant variable in both camps with only two goals in each team’s kitty.
Nigeria, winners in 2013 and having reached the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the current AFCON campaign respectively with a match to spare, suffered a nightmarish 0-2 defeat to lowly Madagascar in their final Group B game they were expected to win well without sweat. But Cup holders Cameroon also bombed on bookmakers by drawing blank in their final Group F encounter with the Squirrels of Benin Republic.
Cameroon have had the upper hand against Nigeria in AFCON history, although Nigeria has won 13 of 22 encounters in all with the fierce neighbours at senior level, and humiliated the Indomitable Lions in the race to the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
It is also on record that the Lions have not beaten the Super Eagles in regulation time since 27th August 1989, when an under-strength Nigeria side lost 0-1 in Yaounde in an Italia 1990 World Cup qualifier –two weeks after Samuel Okwaraji died in another World Cup qualifier against Angola in Lagos.
In 1984, in an entertaining AFCON final in Abidjan, Cameroon came from one goal down to defeat Nigeria 3-1, exhibiting the quality and experience that had made them unbeaten at the FIFA World Cup in Spain two years earlier. Four years later, at the same stage in Casablanca, the Lions were less convincing, as Nigeria lost following Mauritanian referee Idrissa Saar’s inexplicable decision to disallow a goal by Henry Nwosu in the first half, and then award a soft penalty to the Lions early in the second half.
Again in the final, in 2000, it was even more controversial. A 2-2 draw in regulation and extra time was followed by a penalty shootout, during which Tunisian referee Mourad Daami controversially ruled out the kick by Victor Ikpeba that television replays later showed to have crossed the line behind goalkeeper Alioum Boukar.
Nigeria got some revenge in 2004, when Jay Jay Okocha spearheaded a comeback in a quarter final tie in Monastir, Tunisia that ended 2-1 in favour of Nigeria, and after waiting 13 years, the Eagles dismantled reigning African champions Cameroon 4-0 in a World Cup qualifier in Uyo before a 1-1 draw in Yaounde days later.
Saturday’s encounter at the 20,000 –capacity Alexandria Stadium will be a fight-to-finish, as both teams are undergoing some sort of restructuring in playing personnel and introspection on recent below-par performances.
