African Football Discussion Thread Current Topic: 👉 AFCON 2025/2026

[Asiska02]

Mbeumo had a great assist today, although he didn't get much constructive chances playing with his country men in same pitch, the Cameroonian side felt his impact in the team,  however, Gabon pressed Cameroon at the last few minutes to the end of first half, say for about 15 minutes. The only issues with these African teams is the lack of tactics, Gabon had opportunities to score, which failed as a result of substandard team work.

Much emphasis on that team work because when a team lacks team work, the result of their effort becomes fruitless. When watching through the African Cup of Nations games, you can see the many star players Africans arbour but due to lack of experience and willingness to play together as a team, they always fail to make the best outing especially in international competitions like the World Cup. It was a great game from the two sides, but they can each do better with more coordinated teamwork.

The biggest problem why i think  that top coaches would not want to coach the Nigerian national team is because of the higher level of interference, added with their desire of not wanting to reside in Africa, because if it's about money, Nigeria is actually blessed with that, another problem is the NFF, will they want to spend so much on a manager when cheaper alternative are available?

I don’t think that Nigeria underpay their managers that going for alternatives to pay them low will be what they settle for. Nigeria have signed international coaches before and they stayed for a long period of time, if underpaying them was it, they wouldn’t have agreed to come manage the natural team. One thing I know they do is that they owe the players and managers from time to time and that also use to be settled when alarm is raised. Interference into the coach selection of player will continually to kill the national team. All players in the national team are deserving of playing but NFF intervention in selection of players will kill the team and not progress.

[Futurexxx]

No, I strongly disagree with this your statement here, long gone are those days when things like that use to happen, but not anymore. Right now which player in our super eagles that you think that is not deserving of his place?
If you are talking about how the NFF will stop the Coach from picking a player that always agitated for the allowance to be paid, it's understandable, but forcing a player on a coach is what I greatly disagree on.

You might be right because almost all the players on the team deserve to play based on club performance. But we know how bad the system is that almost everything in the country is tribalism, added with religious sentiment and influenced by monetary inducement. I don't like the idea of sidelining players who protested due to wages. NFF failed in their responsibility and shouldn't blame players for expressing their grievance.

This has been going on for some time now in our super eagles, and if you can still remember this guy Lyon balogun, the guy that looks like a foreigner, a central back, he was sideline because of this issue of agitating for his wages, even trust ekong held his agitation till he was convinced that he will be calling his national team footballing career to an end, that's why he rally the team and they stood their ground till everything was paid in full during the world cup qualifying games, so this is what our players are going through in the hands of our NFF.

So these our players are only playing with their heart and soul for us, not just about money, because if they want to put money in front before playing, every tournament we will always have players agitating for their pay, which is not a good image for our nation Nigeria, that is why politicians should never be placed in charge of football organization, because they will always want to play politics with it.

[Nightwatchmare]

Have we noticed that since the beginning of this ongoing AFCON is the bigger boys that have been getting all 3pt, winning their games even if is 1nil, the highest is a draw but the big sides are yet to drop point in the first leg of the group stage, I wonder when are we to see one or two strong countries lose their game. Who's going to be the first to lose to a smaller side? I hope not Nigeria because they did well in their game so they should top the group.

I hope the super eagles of Nigeria is not among the big  boys you are talking about because I see nothing special about the Nigeria team in this tournament. There are various criteria used for the identification of a good team, one is the winning games when it matters, there dominating strength when they play and there consistency level. As for the super eagles of Nigeria, they lack all this qualities in them that is why they find it difficult showing the stuffs they are doing,instead they go about doing nonsense when all are expecting a good result from them

Even if you do not see anything special about the super eagles of Nigeria, it will not stop them from being among the big boys in the Afcon tournament because the super eagles earned the name long before now, and they do not need you to see something special in them to be named among the big boys in the ongoing Afcon tournament. You should know that there are some coaches whose parttern is to gain possession and win the game and there are some coaches who reply on counter attack to win a match, so it is not possible for every team to play the same pattern.

[Emitdama]

Ten matches are already completed in this event, mostly big teams are dominating, this is good and no surprises until now. But few teams are not performing as expected, this is astounding because I was expecting good win for Egypt and Super Eagles, but both were not able to perform as expected.

Now both are having challenging matches as these will decide which team will be taking top spot in their respective groups, both matches are not easy to predict as all the teams are playing with their full power. This is making things more interesting. Super Eagles need to be giving their best if they want to win this event while few others are also having strong case, but it's better to predict for upcoming knock out round.

[Princess Leah]

From what I've seen of the first matches of the AFCON, the favorite teams have won their first games.
I had the opportunity to watch the Nigeria match. (Osimhen plays in Türkiye, so there's interest in his matches in Türkiye)
Nigeria beat Tanzania 2-1, but Osimhen didn't score. He scored in one instance, but it was disallowed for offside. He was also unlucky in another.
My favorite is definitely Nigeria. They will advance to the next round without losing a single match in the group stage.

That's what I noticed too dear, all the favourites won their matches so those who risked on the underdogs should try again when tougher teams would be playing against themselves, the tournament has been interesting so far and all the big teams are very careful not miss an opportunity to finish in position that would take them to the next round of the tournament.

 Osimhen was impressive, he gave his all bur today wasn't his day, I could've really loved that he scared but it is what it is and I know that when he starts scoring he'll be consistent about it. He's one player i trust so much in the Super Eagles team.

[Spaceman1000$]

I hope the super eagles of Nigeria is not among the big  boys you are talking about because I see nothing special about the Nigeria team in this tournament. There are various criteria used for the identification of a good team, one is the winning games when it matters, there dominating strength when they play and there consistency level. As for the super eagles of Nigeria, they lack all this qualities in them that is why they find it difficult showing the stuffs they are doing,instead they go about doing nonsense when all are expecting a good result from them

I understand you vestation, if not that the super eagles team are missing up sometimes, I think we can't mention the big boy here without telling coming first or second.
When I first spotted on your first paragraph, I already know where you're heading to, mate most of us are disappointed in those guys, all you said here is true, super eagles don't win when they have several opportunities to do so, they are good at unnecessarily creating tension which is bad, whenever I trace back to the just concluded world qualifiers, I feel like spilling some stuff but I won't because their performance didn't come as a surprise to me and I promise myself that I won't allow their shit to affect my mental health and I advise that you shouldn't allow such too.

Most times it is even adviced that if your suffering from high blood pressure then whenever the super Eagles are playing, is advised you avoid watching the game because you might end up disappointed and you might spike B.P level. The major problem we have is that in recent times the NFF has not done a enough investment in our football, in those days we had home best players that could compete with the international players because our local League was highly functional and young people were ready to play football to bring out their talent, today we rely on international players and whenever they come they play whatever they feel like playing and they leave afterwards, because there is no competition and people are not ready to bring out their best, and this is not only about the super Eagles, it is happening across board including the under-17, under 23, the women football etc.

[buwaytress]

Not just the goals that should count though, I'm told from someone watching Congo's been pretty rabid, good footballing team. Somewhat happy Osimhen blanked though as I need him to score in the next match. Oh, and also need Ivory boys to smack the goals in proper though, got handicaps riding on them!

P.S. Nice to see you in here. You gamble much elsewhere?

Congo are very hungry, not just rabid. Their next game is against Senegal who they seem to have a bone of contention with so I bet you the showdown isn't going to be easy as this two sides would be looking to outshine the other and if you observe, virtually all the players in Senegal are playing in big European teams except for the likes of Mane and Koulibaly who are in the Saudi Arabian leagues so they might want to use their world of experience against Dr Congo being that they seem to grace this tournament more than their opponents, but in all honesty, Congo can also hold their own when they meet stubborn opponents. Take Nigeria and Cameroon for instance.
As for Osimhen, maybe we'd see a goal from him against Tunisia and he'd be more clinical with his chances since he wasn't able to get something yesterday. Ivory Coast will make light work of their opponents, Mozambique, as they are clear favorites to win. Although we won't be leaving anything to chance, but I have the belief that your picks would end in green.


P.S. I ply my trade everywhere. Although I'd admit I'm not as frequent on here as I should but I'm here now.

Thanks for the commentary. I used to follow quite a bit actually, specially with the upstart islanders. Such great odds to be found in AFCON football it feels almost a shame I no longer have the time these days. My Senegal love story started way back in 2002 but I really like now that the tournament feels less shitty than the previous edition.

You need to check out BSFL. You'd be a great addition for the new season in a couple of months!

[TelolettOm]

Mbeumo had a great assist today, although he didn't get much constructive chances playing with his country men in same pitch, the Cameroonian side felt his impact in the team,  however, Gabon pressed Cameroon at the last few minutes to the end of first half, say for about 15 minutes. The only issues with these African teams is the lack of tactics, Gabon had opportunities to score, which failed as a result of substandard team work.

Mbeumo provided the assist for Cameroon's only goal in the match against Gabon, scored by Etta Eyong. He was ultimately named Man of the Match for that match. The Manchester United player made a significant contribution to the national team.

Not only Mbeumo, but another Manchester United player, Amad Diallo, also won the FIFA World Cup (MoTM) for Ivory Coast after scoring the winning goal in the AFCON.

Source: 𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋: Amad from Man United won 𝐌𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 for Ivory Coast

[Callido]

Even if you do not see anything special about the super eagles of Nigeria, it will not stop them from being among the big boys in the Afcon tournament because the super eagles earned the name long before now, and they do not need you to see something special in them to be named among the big boys in the ongoing Afcon tournament. You should know that there are some coaches whose parttern is to gain possession and win the game and there are some coaches who reply on counter attack to win a match, so it is not possible for every team to play the same pattern.

Our plan is not to do well in the tournament, our focus is to win the AFCON this time around. Last tournament, we went to the final and lost horribly with the worst performance in that competition. Big boys without winning the tournament is pointless.

This season we want to win it, we do not want to settle for anything less than AFCON winners, and from a close range our players are not giving us enough certainty that they can, our squad is great but the results after each game raises our doubts.

[Adbitco]

The news that has been circulating around our local news online this after, is that of a clergyman who before the AFCON said a particular Nigerian player will not help his team Nigeria in this tournament. That was a bold move or should I say talk from him. Of course you know how they do it or say it, that God told them to. Nigeria's first game was against Tanzania and we all know what happens in every cup games group stages of 3 matches, winning 2 matches automatically qualifiers you for the next stage, right now Nigeria has one win and another win will solidify their place in the Rounds of 16. Nigeria won 2 - 1 in their opening match and guess who scored the opening goal, same Ademola Lookman. People went to bash on the clergymen after the game and just today, he claims he was misunderstood, that the tournament hasn't gone far yet that it's just starting we should wait. Ok, but again, is the game against Tanzania not part of the tournament?

[Rruchi man]

Those who bet on over 2.5 goals in this match must have had a nervous breakdown.

An over 2.5 goal bet in the AFCON is always a risky bet considering it is a low-scoring competition, but I see the games with North African teams as games with a higher chance of having that number of goals because of how well they play compared to other teams.

The top fixture for tomorrow will be Egypt against South Africa, and in that fixture the chances of getting an over 2.5 bet are high.

[Mayor of ogba]

The news that has been circulating around our local news online this after, is that of a clergyman who before the AFCON said a particular Nigerian player will not help his team Nigeria in this tournament. That was a bold move or should I say talk from him. Of course you know how they do it or say it, that God told them to. Nigeria's first game was against Tanzania and we all know what happens in every cup games group stages of 3 matches, winning 2 matches automatically qualifiers you for the next stage, right now Nigeria has one win and another win will solidify their place in the Rounds of 16. Nigeria won 2 - 1 in their opening match and guess who scored the opening goal, same Ademola Lookman. People went to bash on the clergymen after the game and just today, he claims he was misunderstood, that the tournament hasn't gone far yet that it's just starting we should wait. Ok, but again, is the game against Tanzania not part of the tournament?

If I am not mistaken, this isn't the first time a clergyman has said something about the Nigerian national team, and it didn't come to pass. It's so difficult to find a real man of God,  so Nigerians shouldn't take what the clergyman said about Ademola Lookman seriously because the clergyman just wants to trend, and the only way he believes he could trend is by saying Ademola Lookman won't be helpful to the Nigerian national team.

[Webetcoins]

An over 2.5 goal bet in the AFCON is always a risky bet considering it is a low-scoring competition, but I see the games with North African teams as games with a higher chance of having that number of goals because of how well they play compared to other teams.

The top fixture for tomorrow will be Egypt against South Africa, and in that fixture the chances of getting an over 2.5 bet are high.

This big game is going to be interesting for fans of both the teams but here few interesting facts like Egypt never won against South Africa in last 6 games while in last 10 games South Africa have won 5 and Egypt won 3 and 2 ended on draw, last time Egypt won in 2006.

Both teams are well-balanced, but bookies are favouring Egypt, this is very much interesting to watch and bet. Tomorrow this match is going to be played at Agadir while mostly are expected Egypt need to be winning and Mohammad Salah will be making his mark as he has done in last game against Zimbabwe by scoring a goal even in injury time.

[yixichloro2xx]

The news that has been circulating around our local news online this after, is that of a clergyman who before the AFCON said a particular Nigerian player will not help his team Nigeria in this tournament. That was a bold move or should I say talk from him. Of course you know how they do it or say it, that God told them to. Nigeria's first game was against Tanzania and we all know what happens in every cup games group stages of 3 matches, winning 2 matches automatically qualifiers you for the next stage, right now Nigeria has one win and another win will solidify their place in the Rounds of 16. Nigeria won 2 - 1 in their opening match and guess who scored the opening goal, same Ademola Lookman. People went to bash on the clergymen after the game and just today, he claims he was misunderstood, that the tournament hasn't gone far yet that it's just starting we should wait. Ok, but again, is the game against Tanzania not part of the tournament?

If I am not mistaken, this isn't the first time a clergyman has said something about the Nigerian national team, and it didn't come to pass. It's so difficult to find a real man of God,  so Nigerians shouldn't take what the clergyman said about Ademola Lookman seriously because the clergyman just wants to trend, and the only way he believes he could trend is by saying Ademola Lookman won't be helpful to the Nigerian national team.

Obviously the clergy man just want to trend, those see nothing, most of them are fake. Why cant they see vision that bring the better progress to the country or they should start condeming the wrong doing of these leaders. The only thing that affect this super eagle players is their playing mentality at the national games. If you watch them in club games, they always play their best, look at chukwueze against manchester city or iwobi at fulham they often perform well so as others. We have one of the best squad in Africa. So they need to improve their playing style in the National games.

[Franctoshi]

Those who bet on over 2.5 goals in this match must have had a nervous breakdown.

An over 2.5 goal bet in the AFCON is always a risky bet considering it is a low-scoring competition, but I see the games with North African teams as games with a higher chance of having that number of goals because of how well they play compared to other teams.

The top fixture for tomorrow will be Egypt against South Africa, and in that fixture the chances of getting an over 2.5 bet are high.

Obviously, it's better you rather go for an over 1.5 odd to be on a safer side of your bet with this on going AFCON competition, because most the games I have watched so far this tournament, it usually end up not having very much goal, mostly 3 goals for both side, I don't know why it's like this in this side of competition, should we say the teams are equal in strength that they hardly score each other goals?

[SuperBitMan]

The news that has been circulating around our local news online this after, is that of a clergyman who before the AFCON said a particular Nigerian player will not help his team Nigeria in this tournament. That was a bold move or should I say talk from him. Of course you know how they do it or say it, that God told them to. Nigeria's first game was against Tanzania and we all know what happens in every cup games group stages of 3 matches, winning 2 matches automatically qualifiers you for the next stage, right now Nigeria has one win and another win will solidify their place in the Rounds of 16. Nigeria won 2 - 1 in their opening match and guess who scored the opening goal, same Ademola Lookman. People went to bash on the clergymen after the game and just today, he claims he was misunderstood, that the tournament hasn't gone far yet that it's just starting we should wait. Ok, but again, is the game against Tanzania not part of the tournament?

If I am not mistaken, this isn't the first time a clergyman has said something about the Nigerian national team, and it didn't come to pass. It's so difficult to find a real man of God,  so Nigerians shouldn't take what the clergyman said about Ademola Lookman seriously because the clergyman just wants to trend, and the only way he believes he could trend is by saying Ademola Lookman won't be helpful to the Nigerian national team.

Who is still even taken the prophecy of this clergymen serious, a lot of them have predicted about football in the past lying that God was the one that gave them that prophecy, I don't believe what they say anymore especially when it concerns football, for the fact that Ademola lookman was not performing very well some fews months back those not mean we should call him useless in the Nigerian team, even before now Ademola lookman is now inform and doing very well in his club, now that he has scored in Nigeria opening match the clergyman will be full of shame, his very shameless anyone that will be going to his church after these is also shameless.

[Mayor of ogba]

Those who bet on over 2.5 goals in this match must have had a nervous breakdown.

An over 2.5 goal bet in the AFCON is always a risky bet considering it is a low-scoring competition, but I see the games with North African teams as games with a higher chance of having that number of goals because of how well they play compared to other teams.

The top fixture for tomorrow will be Egypt against South Africa, and in that fixture the chances of getting an over 2.5 bet are high.

Egypt and South Africa are both scoring teams, and I believe they can produce over 2.5 when they kick off their match tomorrow in the African Cup of Nations. Considering how Egypt struggled to beat Zimbabwe in their first match in the African Cup of Nations, I don't think South Africa will be an easy opponent for Egypt. I will bet on over 2.5 in the Egypt vs South African match.

[GiftedMAN]

Obviously, it's better you rather go for an over 1.5 odd to be on a safer side of your bet with this on going AFCON competition, because most the games I have watched so far this tournament, it usually end up not having very much goal, mostly 3 goals for both side, I don't know why it's like this in this side of competition, should we say the teams are equal in strength that they hardly score each other goals?

AFCON competition is a very strong competition if you want to succeed in winning your bet the best option would be either over 1.5 goals or straight winning. Goals are coming out this particular one compared to the previous ones but as you already know it's always difficult to see the game produce up to 3 goals especially in a game between two strong nation with good squad, the main reason for less goals is because the players you see playing in the teams are not used to each other and the teams playing against each other do not what to lose that's why you see strong tackles in the games.

[Ryu_Ar1]

Egypt and South Africa are both scoring teams, and I believe they can produce over 2.5 when they kick off their match tomorrow in the African Cup of Nations. Considering how Egypt struggled to beat Zimbabwe in their first match in the African Cup of Nations, I don't think South Africa will be an easy opponent for Egypt. I will bet on over 2.5 in the Egypt vs South African match.

Looking at the layout of strength, it seems that for group B they are very favorite for now and indeed this cannot be denied because of a series of names in their national team.

Tomorrow they will elbow each other for the first place for a while and this is quite interesting where even though they are quite good but the fact is that they are still quite careless in defense because there are still gaps so this makes it possible to create many goal dramas it seems.

But so far for the first match I am still quite impressed with Phoko's performance for Bostwana. I watched the Senegal match because I wanted to see Mane's performance there considering I haven't seen this player for a long time during his time in the SPL but instead my eyes were distracted by Phoko who was quite alert under the bar.
Although 3 goals were scored, his performance was very impressive for me in the first match.

[Salahmu]

The news that has been circulating around our local news online this after, is that of a clergyman who before the AFCON said a particular Nigerian player will not help his team Nigeria in this tournament. That was a bold move or should I say talk from him. Of course you know how they do it or say it, that God told them to. Nigeria's first game was against Tanzania and we all know what happens in every cup games group stages of 3 matches, winning 2 matches automatically qualifiers you for the next stage, right now Nigeria has one win and another win will solidify their place in the Rounds of 16.

Do you no why he is saying that is not the time yet?, he actually knows that super eagles will not win the AFCON that's why he is waiting to see the time they would be kicked out before he would remind everybody about what he said, that's exactly what he is planning but definitely he is going to fail as this first match because even if the country does not qualify we would make sure to watch Ademola Lookman so that by the time he would start putting any blame on him we would no that he did not do what he is saying, I wonder how Ademola Lookman will react when media will interview him about his comments it that.