By Augustine Akhilomen

The Super Eagles of Nigeria will be attempting to win the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for the 4th time in Egypt after the draws of the bi-annual tournament was made last week Friday in Cairo.

The Gernot Rohr led-side look to have been pitted in what some pundits have tagged an ‘easy draw’ with teams such as Burundi, Guinea and Madagascar making up Group B.

On paper, Nigeria should ease pass their group contenders into the 16, however, football over the years has shown that it is not mathematics, numbers, sometimes do not add up and as such leaves room for an upset. A good reminder is the 2014 FIFA World Cup where bookmakers had tipped Italy and England to qualify from a group consisting Uruguay and Costa Rica, but both fell short in the group stage.

Nigeria’s road to qualifying for Egypt ‘19 saw the team losing just its opening game at home to South Africa before beating Seychelles and Libya home and away to win the group with 13 points.

However, if Nigeria must qualify for the knockout stages of the 2019 AFCON, then the players must erase the idea of complacency and work hard to claim the most prestigious trophy in the continent after their victorious outing in South Africa in 2013 under late Stephen Keshi.

Having an array of stars such as Ahmed Musa, Alex Iwobi, Wilfred Ndidi, Odion Ighalo, Paul Onuachi, Samuel Kalu, Leon Balogun, William Troost-Ekong, Samuel Chukwueze, Oghenekharo Etebo, Kelechi Iheanacho, Henry Onyekuru, Kenneth Omeruo, to mention a few, it would be a major upset if they fail to qualify from the group.

How Guinea, Burundi, Madagascar qualified

Guinea

Tipped as strong favourites to give the Super Eagles a run for their money in Group B after qualifying for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations ahead of Ivory Coast in Group H of the qualifying series.

The Silly Nationale defeated Les Éléphants 3-2 in Stade Bouaké, Bouaké to announce their readiness and it will be a big error any team decides to take them for granted. Guinea’s best performance was at the 1976 Nations Cup, where the team finished as runners-up to Morocco; in a tournament Nigeria came third. The team has appeared eleven times of the AFCON tournaments.

They bank on players such as Liverpool star man, Naby Keïta, Sadio Diallo of Hatayspor in Turkey, Borussia Monchengladbach’s Ibrahima Traoré, Auxerre’s Mohamed Yattara, Maccabi Haifa’s Seydouba Soumah, Fulham’s Ibrahima Cissé, and Napoli’s Amadou Diawara to shoulder the goal scoring responsibilities.

BURUNDI

Burundi qualified for the 2019 AFCON ahead of Gabon and South Sudan after coming second behind group winner Mali in Group C.

This will be the first time that the team will be qualifying for the bi-annual tournament and they have players such as Fiston Abdul Razak of JS Kabylie of Algeria, Selemani Ndikumana of Al-Adalh of Saudi Arabia and Cedric Amissi of Al-Taawoun of Saudi Arabia to count on for any game.

MADAGASCAR

Never qualified for any AFCON tournament, but the tiny-Island country against all odds qualified as the first team to book a place in Egypt as second despite being grouped alongside Senegal, Equatorial Guinea and Sudan in group A.

The Barea of Madagascar held the Teranga Lions of Senegal 2-2 during the qualifying series, a result which showed the team shouldn’t be seen as minnows. They would rely on players such as Faneva Imà Andriatsima of Clermont Foot in France Ligue 11, Paulin Voavy of Misr Lel Makkasa of Egypt, Njiva Rakotoharimalala of Samut Sakhon in Thailand, Ibrahim Amada of MC Alger of Algeria and Anicet Abel of Ludogorets Razgrad of Bulgaria to cause a major upset in the tournament.

GROUP STAGES ANALYSIS

NIGERIA VS BURUNDI

All things being equal, the Super Eagles will be expected to kick start their AFCON campaign on a winning note against Burundi on June 22nd, 2019 at the Alexandria Stadium, Alexandria.

It will be the first match of the two sides since the Super Eagles beat Itamba of Burundi 2-0 at the MKO Abiola Stadium on 23 January 1999.

23 Jan. 1999 (AFCONQualifiers) Nigeria 2-0 Burundi

NIGERIA VS GUINEA

This encounter is expected to decide the group winner most especially if Guinea comes out with 3 points against Madagascar in their opening fixture.

However, considering the calibre of players in the disposal of team’s manager, Gernot Rohr, the Super Eagles could nick maximum points. Previous clashes of both teams are almost even. Both had met 14 times and each won four and drew six.

This will be the second Africa Cup of Nations’ clash of the two teams since they met at Ethiopia ’76. The score line then was 1-1 following Muda Lawal’s goal in the 52nd minute and Papa Camara’s equaliser at the dot of 90 minutes.

27 Jul. 1963 (AFCONQualifiers) Nigeria 2-2 Guinea

6 Oct. 1963 (AFCONQualifiers) Guinea 1-0 Nigeria * match awarded to Nigeria on technical ground

1 Dec. 1971(Balewa Cup) Guinea 3-0 Nigeria

30 Jan. 1972(Balewa Cup) Nigeria 1-1 Guinea

18 Jan. 1973 (2AAG) Nigeria 2-0 Guinea

9 March 1976 (AFCON) Guinea 1-1 Nigeria

12 Apr. 1981 (WCQualifiers) Guinea 1-1 Nigeria

25 Apr. 1981 (WCQualifiers) Nigeria 1-0 Guinea

9 Apr. 1989(AFCONQualifiers) Guinea 1-1 Nigeria

22 Apr. 1989 (AFCONQualifiers) Nigeria 3-0 Guinea

5 Apr. 1997 (WCQualifiers) Nigeria 2-1 Guinea

17 Aug. 1997 (WCQualifiers) Guinea 1-0 Nigeria

10 Oct. 2010 (AFCONQualifiers) Guinea 1-0 Nigeria

8 Oct. 2011 (AFCONQualifiers) Nigeria 2-2 Guinea

NIGERIA VS MADAGASCAR

The game against Madagascar will be Super Eagles’ fifth encounter with the home country of CAF President, Ahmad.

Nigeria won three of the four previous clashes and drew only one. Their first clash was on October 7, 2001 in Antananarivo. The 2002 AFCON qualifier ended goalless.

7 Oct. 2000 (AFCONQualifiers) Madagascar 0-0 Nigeria

2 June 2001 (AFCONQualifiers) Nigeria 1-0 Madagascar

5 Sept. 2010(AFCONQualifiers) Nigeria 2-0 Madagascar

3 Sept. 2011(AFCONQualifiers) Madagascar 0-2 Nigeria