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

[Sim_card]

Yes i agree with you, Nigeria are not to be trusted with the hope to be crowned champions of Afcon tournament this year, they may be in a very good form, winning all the group stage games and also haunting to win more in the round of 16 and above but this there inability to remain consistent is one reason i will never trust them on that. Know doubt they are one of the best side considered to win the tournament but they are the only team that always turn the hope of all down at the highest point when all will be ready to see them go far in any tournament. So i do not  think they should be considered ready to win at last

After watching the disappointment from the Super Eagles in the world cup qualifiers, I have decided not to put my hope on the Super Eagles to win the AFCON. Their performance is brilliant in their past matches but that's not enough for me to have confidence in them that they can win the tournament. They are always not taking important matches seriously.

[Callido]

On papers Nigeria are definitely the favorite to win this match, but from past experiences,  I will say that Nigeria cannot  be trusted. They have started the competition very well and even have a 100% record in the competition,  but still I don't trust team, because they keep disappointing us. We can see how they fail to qualify for the world cup, despite the fact that they are not even in a very difficult group. I think the Supee Eagles have the tendency of failing when we put so much trust on them. I hope the prove me wrong this time and even go on to win the AFCON to compensate us for not qualifying for the world cup.

Nigeria has the whole possibility of qualifying, even if we are to drop from the tournament, it wouldn't be too early in this stage of the competition. Nigeria has a secure space somewhere in any of the final, even if we don't win the AFCON tournament. I believe we can win Mozambique, as they are nowhere in our comparison.

[Zanab247]

The draw for the next phase of the AFCON tournament has been drawn and Nigeria will face Mozambique in the round of 16. The draw is a bit favourable for the Nigerian side.

On papers Nigeria are definitely the favorite to win this match, but from past experiences,  I will say that Nigeria cannot  be trusted. They have started the competition very well and even have a 100% record in the competition,  but still I don't trust team, because they keep disappointing us. We can see how they fail to qualify for the world cup, despite the fact that they are not even in a very difficult group. I think the Supee Eagles have the tendency of failing when we put so much trust on them. I hope the prove me wrong this time and even go on to win the AFCON to compensate us for not qualifying for the world cup.

Despite they have not lost any game in this AFCON tournament I will trust super Eagle till the end of this AFCON. I use to doubt super Eagle in some competition but what they have dominated in this tournament make me to be confidence in my prediction, because they have potential coach and players that want to use this AFCON to make Nigerian happy. We know that they did not dominate on time in the world cup but people that understand performance know that super Eagle made a positive moved at the end of the qualifiers stage to qualify for the world cup, but it was too late for them to qualify for the world cup.

I don't think such disappointment will happen in this AFCON, because super Eagle have maintain a good stand that will help them to finish this tournament to lift the trophy to break record.

[Rruchi man]

I use to doubt super Eagle in some competition but what they have dominated in this tournament make me to be confidence in my prediction,

Come on, guys! It was just the group stage of the competition. The next stage of the competition is expected to be more serious, and even teams that were able to go through and finish the group stages without losing any game can suddenly lose their first game in the round of 16 and be eliminated. We should not be celebrating because of the group stage performance; we have to hope our boys don't get distracted by it, and still carry same focus into the Round of 16.

The next game is against Mozambique on the 5th of January, we should win that game.

[yenerbatmaz]

I saw posts on social media saying that the Gabon government has decided to shut down the National Team, that the coach has been sacked, and that Captain Aubameyang will not be allowed to enter the country. This is a sport, it happens in success and failure. I was surprised to hear such things. Is there any truth to it? I hope not, that it's false news.

[Agbe]

Yes I didn't watch the Match but I looked the Match from Niger Delta TV (NDTV).
A sport analyst said, If Uganda scored Nigeria, which they would have prevented to the end based on their domination of the game, when they meet the major teams they might lose out.

Good you admitted that you didn’t watch the match. You got your information all wrong. Nigeria were the dominant side in the match even though Uganda needed the win more than we did. If you watched the match, you would know that Uganda had a very poor game so much so that they brought in 3 goalkeepers in the match, I don’t remember the last time I saw a team do that.

You are just vague in football analysis and it is from this tournament I know that you are empty in football analysis. I have said in several times that I watched the matches in NDTV yet you are emphasing on the side I I didn't watched the Matches. What did really think? See pet me tell, I am not ready for all these nonsense this new year. If you don't understand what others have said ignore them and pass. I don't want any argument with you this new year. As I said previously, I am not a praise singer like you because Nigeria wins in the group Stage. This is not the first time Nigeria has won in the group stage what happened at the end. Do you really understand how Nigeria is playing in this tournament? Not Nigeria is only good in the first half and the and the second first 30 minutes or the second half and if a strong team encounter them strongly, Nigeria will loss out. Tunisia almost equalize with them, and why can't them maintened the 3-0 with Uganda?  

You are just watching the back of the TV and not the from the front. This is not the first time Nigeria has done this and finally disappointed fans. Nigeria defence and the goalkeeper is very bad and that can make them to knock out from any stage. And when people that understand football are talking, you are coming to put your mouth. Don't be so much excited until Nigeria play  the final. According to and ijaw saying. Don't be happy yet because you kill Akou fish but be happy when you cook it in the pot. You are from the Niger Delta and I believe you know what is "Akou fish". (Ero Fish)  

You disappointed me. I was not expecting you to this this vague side of rue Super Eagles. You have been in the country and seen how Nigeria Super Eagles has disappointed us many times to get you don't understand them and calling me names. I am not against Super Eagles but I am saying the fact on the current situation. I have been watching all their matches. And their defense and goalkeeper will disappoint them if they continue like this. There was no need for Tunisia goals and Uganda goals. If their defense was good enough.

Because of few wins from the Super Eagles, you are attacking me like say Nigeria has already win the trophy. Tha!!! chaii.

[Fiatless]

Good you admitted that you didn’t watch the match. You got your information all wrong. Nigeria were the dominant side in the match even though Uganda needed the win more than we did. If you watched the match, you would know that Uganda had a very poor game so much so that they brought in 3 goalkeepers in the match, I don’t remember the last time I saw a team do that.

Was it their poor performance that made them bring in three goalkeepers? I don't think so; injury and a red card were the root cause. Nigeria was the better side that we deserved to get more goals. I hope the Super Eagles will continue with this unbeaten run until they get to the finals. My confidence in the Super Eagles is still low until they get to the semi-finals.  

Yes I didn't watch the Match but I looked the Match from Niger Delta TV (NDTV).
A sport analyst said, If Uganda scored Nigeria, which they would have prevented to the end based on their domination of the game, when they meet the major teams they might lose out.

Do you mean that you didn't watch the match live? That is, you were not in Fez Stadium, Morocco, but you viewed it at home via a television channel called Niger Delta TV?   

[BIT-BENDER]

I saw posts on social media saying that the Gabon government has decided to shut down the National Team, that the coach has been sacked, and that Captain Aubameyang will not be allowed to enter the country. This is a sport, it happens in success and failure. I was surprised to hear such things. Is there any truth to it? I hope not, that it's false news.

This is 2026 don't believe such made up stories, Aubameyang did not do any why would he not be allowed in the country. Lol. Auba is a Nation treasure in Gabon he have giving all he can for the country just like his father did and I don't think he was 100% fit for this African cup of nations coupled with the fact that age is telling on him now he still choose to defend his nation.
Gabon should be critical of the team but still be grateful how far they have come so far in football and it will get better for them.

[Agbe]

Good you admitted that you didn’t watch the match. You got your information all wrong. Nigeria were the dominant side in the match even though Uganda needed the win more than we did. If you watched the match, you would know that Uganda had a very poor game so much so that they brought in 3 goalkeepers in the match, I don’t remember the last time I saw a team do that.

Was it their poor performance that made them bring in three goalkeepers? I don't think so; injury and a red card were the root cause. Nigeria was the better side that we deserved to get more goals. I hope the Super Eagles will continue with this unbeaten run until they get to the finals. My confidence in the Super Eagles is still low until they get to the semi-finals.  

I am really sorry. This your comment deserves merits from me. You have proven to me that you understand football game very well, even though you are not a footballer. SatoPrincess disappointed me 100% times and this not the first time she has proven to be that she not a good on it. I have created a thread because her yet she is in the same status quo. I respected her and liked her before but it seems she is not good sports things. Foe what you have said and gladding my heart. +P for you. Anyone that understand sport (football) games would not praise Nigeria Super Eagles with their current performance. I will still praise them if they do well. I will analyse each of their games from all the wings. +PT. Please accept it.

[SatoPrincess]

From careful observation after yesterday Match with Uganda and commented here. I came to discover today that, Nigeria has a big problem in the goalkeeper and the defense and that gave Tunisia and Uganda to scored them. And if that is fixed quickly, It will be hard for them to scale through the round of 16. Nigerian Goalkeeper (Francis Ozoho) is not a good goalkeeper and they have to replace him with Nwabali. Eric Chelle should do something about the defense and the goalkeeper before it too late. The front players now are trying there possible best to see that Nigeria do well but the backwards is not encouraging.

Nwabali is our number 1 goalkeeper, Francis Ozoho is only a sub goalie that’s mostly brought in for rotation sake. He’s not taking the number 1 spot just yet, however, I think it’s good that he’s getting some game time, and Nwabali can rest for more important matches. I would also like to see Nigeria keep a clean sheet but if they can’t, they better score more goals than they concede.

[Spaceman1000$]

There defense line is one of their problems which I think it should be taken care of so quickly, currently I think they has improved to some extent and with that, they can easily beat some teams that we do not think they can, one thing I don't like about the Nigerian super eagles is that, they at some point misprioritize things, what I don't want to hope for is what happened during the just concluded world cup, they need to continue to be consistent in their winning, there should not be any reason for failure this time, the mindset to win in any game is to be serious no matter who you are paying with and I think that should be the mindset of all super eagles players.

The Eagles truly have some issues around their defence but lucky for them, at this stage, their front lines is covering for a of that and that is why they still win games even with this supposed defect found around their defence. At the later stage of the tournament, they will need some extra effort to not allow th defensive defect interfare with their chances because it is clearly going to be an issue that may cost them some lot actually.

I agree with you, if they meet a team that is very offensive with their attack especially during the round of 16, it pose as a great threat to the defence of the super Eagles, teams like Morocco or Egypt don't take chances when it comes to attack. The super Eagles have good front liners that can convert chances for them but they need to consolidate that with a strong defensive midfield and central midfield, that way they will not be conceding goals even after starting the lead, because it's becoming a thing of concern after, after initially scoring the goals that will take them to victory, towards the mid and ending part of the game you see the super Eagles conceding goals.

[Agbe]

From careful observation after yesterday Match with Uganda and commented here. I came to discover today that, Nigeria has a big problem in the goalkeeper and the defense and that gave Tunisia and Uganda to scored them. And if that is fixed quickly, It will be hard for them to scale through the round of 16. Nigerian Goalkeeper (Francis Ozoho) is not a good goalkeeper and they have to replace him with Nwabali. Eric Chelle should do something about the defense and the goalkeeper before it too late. The front players now are trying there possible best to see that Nigeria do well but the backwards is not encouraging.

Nwabali is our number 1 goalkeeper, Francis Ozoho is only a sub goalie that’s mostly brought in for rotation sake. He’s not taking the number 1 spot just yet, however, I think it’s good that he’s getting some game time, and Nwabali can rest for more important matches. I would also like to see Nigeria keep a clean sheet but if they can’t, they better score more goals than they concede.

Thank God that you went back to my old post to understand my point of view. I don't just make comments on Nigeria or sports anyhow, I might make mistakes in other games but sports, I careful and critically observed what is happening before commenting, we have to know. Why they are doing well, what happened that they can score or conceded goal (s) from the opponent. These things need to be observed in any team before analysing them. Nwabali is injured so Ozoho has to takeover from him until he is fit to keep again and not for preserve or reserve for any good games.

I missed Vincent Enyeamaand. I need a goalkeeper like him in time like things. If he was the one at the goalpost, things would have been better.

[Fiatless]

Due to the poor outing of the Gabonese national team in the Nations Cup, the government has suspended the national team. The Sports Minister, Simplice-Desire Mamboula, announced the sack of the entire management and the ban of Pierre-Emerick and Bruno Ecuele Manga. The Panthers were finished at the bottom of Group F after losing 3-2 to the Ivory Coast.

Maybe the government wants to build a new team. However, I think this move is harsh because the players didn't intentionally lose games.

https://dailypost.ng/2026/01/01/afcon-2025-gabon-govt-suspends-national-team-bans-aubameyang/

[SatoPrincess]

Was it their poor performance that made them bring in three goalkeepers?

Yes. Like I said in my other post, the first keeper had to be subbed due to injury but the red card could have been avoided if Uganda had been anything but horrible in that game. It’s a harsh analysis but that’s my opinion. The goalie had no business handling the ball outside the box. Any goalkeeper with his wits about him wouldn’t make that mistake.

Good you admitted that you didn’t watch the match. You got your information all wrong. Nigeria were the dominant side in the match even though Uganda needed the win more than we did. If you watched the match, you would know that Uganda had a very poor game so much so that they brought in 3 goalkeepers in the match, I don’t remember the last time I saw a team do that.

Was it their poor performance that made them bring in three goalkeepers? I don't think so; injury and a red card were the root cause. Nigeria was the better side that we deserved to get more goals. I hope the Super Eagles will continue with this unbeaten run until they get to the finals. My confidence in the Super Eagles is still low until they get to the semi-finals.  

I am really sorry. This your comment deserves merits from me.

Lol don’t  be silly. You misunderstand my point.

[Lida93]

The Eagles truly have some issues around their defence but lucky for them, at this stage, their front lines is covering for a of that and that is why they still win games even with this supposed defect found around their defence. At the later stage of the tournament, they will need some extra effort to not allow th defensive defect interfare with their chances because it is clearly going to be an issue that may cost them some lot actually.

I agree with you, if they meet a team that is very offensive with their attack especially during the round of 16, it pose as a great threat to the defence of the super Eagles, teams like Morocco or Egypt don't take chances when it comes to attack. The super Eagles have good front liners that can convert chances for them but they need to consolidate that with a strong defensive midfield and central midfield, that way they will not be conceding goals even after starting the lead, because it's becoming a thing of concern after, after initially scoring the goals that will take them to victory, towards the mid and ending part of the game you see the super Eagles conceding goals.

There's actually a problem with the midfield and defence of Nigeria which should be tackled quickly before we get into the round of 16 when we start playing against strong opponents that are our match because am sure they may have also watched Nigeria in the group fixtures and mist have observed the weakness in the team. A team with a good attacking front but with a bad defense is as good as not having any chance at winning games because for any goal scored the opponent is soured to reply in no time.

[Wakate]

On papers Nigeria are definitely the favorite to win this match, but from past experiences,  I will say that Nigeria cannot  be trusted. They have started the competition very well and even have a 100% record in the competition,  but still I don't trust team, because they keep disappointing us. We can see how they fail to qualify for the world cup, despite the fact that they are not even in a very difficult group. I think the Supee Eagles have the tendency of failing when we put so much trust on them. I hope the prove me wrong this time and even go on to win the AFCON to compensate us for not qualifying for the world cup.

Nigeria has the whole possibility of qualifying, even if we are to drop from the tournament, it wouldn't be too early in this stage of the competition. Nigeria has a secure space somewhere in any of the final, even if we don't win the AFCON tournament. I believe we can win Mozambique, as they are nowhere in our comparison.

With the current way the Nigerian super eagles is playing, we might be surprised to see them reaching the final of the AFCON.
My fear is that anytime Osimhen does not play, it means we are not sure of winning because he has been one of the major reasons why we have been winning several of our matches. The tournament is going to be very competitive and I hope to see super eagles playing to their best.

[Different patterns]

The only time I had enjoyed watching the super Eagles of Nigeria 🇳🇬  were in the 90s and early 2000 during the time of Jajay Okocha, Kanu Nwankwo, Sunday Olisa , Finidi George and Teribo west Era, and that was when you see the players play with patriotic,  But these set of players are not putting enough work ,well I blame because of they the other past players were not taking much care of which lead to some of even hanging boot earlier than they should. I lost interest in watching these set of players, the other time I picked up interest was in the time of Keshi.

I don't know about others for me, the Super Eagles have not played good football after 1996. The 1993-4 team that won the African Cup of Nations and played quality football in the USA '94 World Cup. They beat Bulgaria, Greece and lost painfully to Italy in the second round. The Atlanta 96 Squad made up of some senior players, took the World by storm in the Olympic Games.

The coaches who achieved these feats were not world-class. But Clemens Westerhof and Jo Bonfrère were lucky to be surrounded by players who were desperate for glory. The current crop of Nigerian players don't have that drive.      

I was not around in the year of 1996 but I believed the Super Eagles did well in the year 2013 which they won the AFCON Champion but after that period, they play games that have nothing to discuss about again. I started watching Nigeria team football (Super Eagles) from the year 2005 which they played with Tunisia and which Super Eagles did well. here.
Super Eagles players now is for "guys" and not to foe the country. From what we have seen yesterday match, super has nothing to offer and it is better we leave the tournament in the group stage.

Honestly they have the best squad but they have been playing below their real qualities, it's only in the national team you will a player playing well for his team but under performing in the national team, Nigeria is a team that every African national team ought to be afraid of playing considering the teams depth but I believe the team doesn't understand or are yet to master their style of play till now. But for his year's AFCON I have been seeing some improvements I just hope they will keep it till the end

[Coyster]

My fear is that anytime Osimhen does not play, it means we are not sure of winning because he has been one of the major reasons why we have been winning several of our matches. The tournament is going to be very competitive and I hope to see super eagles playing to their best.

Osimhen is definitely the star player in our team, there is no doubt about that, but i don't believe that we cannot win without him. The team has been playing great and even when Osimhen doesn't score, other players do. Our next game is against Mozambique in the RO16 and i am very confident that we are gonna get through. You are right that the AFCON is so competitive and that's the beauty of the tournament. Hopefully Nigeria makes it to the final like the last time, but this time we go all the way.

[yixichloro2xx]

On papers Nigeria are definitely the favorite to win this match, but from past experiences,  I will say that Nigeria cannot  be trusted. They have started the competition very well and even have a 100% record in the competition,  but still I don't trust team, because they keep disappointing us. We can see how they fail to qualify for the world cup, despite the fact that they are not even in a very difficult group. I think the Supee Eagles have the tendency of failing when we put so much trust on them. I hope the prove me wrong this time and even go on to win the AFCON to compensate us for not qualifying for the world cup.

Nigeria has the whole possibility of qualifying, even if we are to drop from the tournament, it wouldn't be too early in this stage of the competition. Nigeria has a secure space somewhere in any of the final, even if we don't win the AFCON tournament. I believe we can win Mozambique, as they are nowhere in our comparison.

With the current way the Nigerian super eagles is playing, we might be surprised to see them reaching the final of the AFCON.
My fear is that anytime Osimhen does not play, it means we are not sure of winning because he has been one of the major reasons why we have been winning several of our matches. The tournament is going to be very competitive and I hope to see super eagles playing to their best.

I believe we can win the Afcon this year. It's like I just have faith in this one. The last one that was played in ivory coast I didn't even expect us to reach the final because of the way we were playing and defending. But this time it's is different we are playing really well. Our attackers are doing their best . This was what we needed during the world cup qualifers, hadn't been we showed this kind of level against our opponents we would have qualified. Nevertheless our main goal now is getting that Afcon back to Nigeria. Our Ko round against Mozambique should be easy but we can't still underestimate them.

[Salahmu]

Due to the poor outing of the Gabonese national team in the Nations Cup, the government has suspended the national team. The Sports Minister, Simplice-Desire Mamboula, announced the sack of the entire management and the ban of Pierre-Emerick and Bruno Ecuele Manga. The Panthers were finished at the bottom of Group F after losing 3-2 to the Ivory Coast.

Maybe the government wants to build a new team. However, I think this move is harsh because the players didn't intentionally lose games.

https://dailypost.ng/2026/01/01/afcon-2025-gabon-govt-suspends-national-team-bans-aubameyang/

The Gabon management should have been enough of the sacking because the players are not part of the national team management, so they don't have to suspend all the team because of it and they might not also get the improvement they want to develop on the team, meanwhile there decision shouldn't be to relieve all there players of there national responsibility because that would be creating more injury to the team they would later have. our government should have also remember our sports management the way Gabon have sacked everybody on there own so that corruption will scared them.