For the very first time in the history of the
Africa Cup of Nations,
24 teams will be vying for a chance to emerge as Africa’s champions at the
continental finals scheduled to take place in Egypt this June.
Although the Super Eagles of Nigeria have already
booked
a spot at AFCON, the Nigeria senior men’s team have a long way to go with a
lot of preparations before they can proudly stake their claim to the 2019 AFCON
title.
The last time Nigeria qualified for the AFCON finals was in 2013, and in the
same year, the team led by former Eagles gaffer,
Stephen
Keshi, brought home the continental title.
Current Super Eagles coach,
Gernot
Rohr, has admitted that the 2019 AFCON final would present the Eagles with
difficult fixtures. However, the young crop of players on his team are up for
the challenge.
Nigeria has one last group game against Seychelles in March, after which the
team will play a friendly match against Egypt in preparations for the 2019
AFCON.
“This big competition in June is the first time we have 24 teams, it
will be more difficult to be the winner of this competition but we have good
ambitions and we have a young team who want to do well, so let’s prepare to be ready on the 15th of June.
“It is already good to be qualified because Nigeria didn’t qualify for
the last two Africa Cup of Nations.
“We have very good wingers now who are quick, we have players who are
coming from behind who can play in different strategies so we are progressing and we have to show it in the next games.”
— Gernot Rohr
Featured image source: BBC
