A few days after claiming a 10th triumph in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, Nigeria will begin another quest for a continental title on Tuesday, as the home-based senior men’s team, Super Eagles B, takes on cup holders Senegal in the opening match of Group B of the 8th African Nations Championship (CHAN 2024).
Having secured bronze medals in 2014 and been runners-up four years later, Nigeria has experienced mixed fortunes in the 16-year-old tournament, which is exclusively reserved for footballers with valid contracts in their domestic leagues across the continent.
In the inaugural edition hosted by Côte d’Ivoire in 2009, which was won by the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Eagles squandered a two-goal lead against arch-rivals Ghana in Accra, losing 2-3, and subsequently failed to score in the return encounter in Calabar. Ghana qualified instead.
Two years later, Nigeria also failed to reach the finals in Sudan. In 2014, under the late Stephen Keshi, the Eagles secured a bronze medal in South Africa, overturning a 3-0 deficit at half-time against Morocco en route. This was a year after the great Keshi had led the ‘A’ team to lift the Africa Cup of Nations in the same country.
Nigeria failed to progress beyond the group stage in Rwanda in 2016 but then reached the Final in the following edition, losing to hosts Morocco on a chilly night in Casablanca. The country missed qualification for the 2021 edition hosted by Cameroon and also could not reach the finals held in Algeria two years ago.
In total, Nigeria will be making only her fourth appearance at the competition.
Christened Pamoja 2024, this year’s African Nations Championship promises much excitement across five venues in three host nations — a novel arrangement for hosting sports events on the African continent. The Confederation of African Football awarded the joint bid by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda the hosting rights for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations and subsequently granted the three nations the opportunity to use the CHAN as a dress rehearsal.
The 19 participating countries have been divided into four groups, with Groups A, B, and C containing five teams, while Group D (which includes Nigeria) has only four teams, including Cup holders Senegal, as well as Congo and Sudan.
Nigeria’s technical and tactical approach will be overseen by Eric Sekou Chelle, who also manages the ‘A’ team.
Chelle has expressed confidence in his 23-man squad, who spent three weeks at a training camp in Ikenne-Remo and an additional 10 days in Zanzibar, where they played two drawn matches against the Zanzibar National Team.
Chelle retains goalkeeper Ozoemena Ani, defenders Sodiq Ismaila and Junior Nduka, midfielder Alex Oyowah, and forwards Anas Yusuf and Sikiru Alimi — all of whom were part of the squad that defeated Ghana’s Black Galaxies 3-0 on aggregate in the qualifiers. Notable additions include Steven Mayo and Leonard Ngenge in defence, Adedayo Olamilekan, Hadi Haruna, and Michael Tochukwu in midfield, and Temitope Vincent, Shola Adelani, and Godwin Obaje in attack.
At the Amaan Stadium, with a capacity of 15,000, Chelle will aim for maximum points to underline Nigeria’s ambition and alleviate anxiety ahead of the matches against Sudan and Congo.
Joint-host Tanzania secured the first three points of the tournament on Saturday, defeating Burkina Faso 2-0 in their Group B encounter at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam.
