African Football Discussion Thread: {Current Topic: 👉 AFCON 2027 ⚽⚽}.

[Comeacross]

I think the Nigeria team actually did a very good selection, but the question is that, why are they not performing up to expectation? At first instance, these players are coming from different European teams, and it will take some time to have good combination, and compatibility among them, and that is why there is need for them to train together for sometime before they can understand themselves very well. If someone is a good player, and you are in pitch with people who don't understand your pattern of game, you won't perform well, but when someone understands your body language or your movement, every move you make will always yield good result. Issue we are having in the Nigeria national team is that, some people are still coming from outside to join those who have been playing together sometimes, and such thing can pose some threat to the team in times of winning their match.

I understand your point but not having enough time to train together should never be an excuse at this level. Every national team is having the same challenge but they still perform better.

Both European and African national teams almost have all their players playing in different leagues with different playing patterns. They usually meet in less than 3 days before their game but they still play well to deliver. Morocco as the most performing national teams in Africa has their players scattered across Europe.

These guys are professional footballers. They can adapt with each other as quickly as possible. If you are good, you are good and you should understand basic football patterns. Of course, playing together often has its own contribution to team chemistry but in Super Eagle case, that's not the problem. Our problem is more tactical discipline and mentality.

[Just Say]

Today Guinea Bissau will be hosting Nigeria at Estadio Nacional 24 de setembro, Bissau. For me this game is supposed to be a good win for the Super eagles. This game is going to be a tough game as the two teams are currently at the top of the table. It's going to be tough and being a game away from home, fans influence could be massive. But I still believe the super eagles will win and top the table. The super eagles need to qualify for the Next year's African Cup of Nations and their performance in this qualification will give a good hope for the main event come next year.

This African Cup of Nations League Qualifier match will be tough for both teams as both teams are currently on top of the points table but I will pick Nigeria to win this match. In fact Nigeria are already performing well as they have won club friendly matches against Jamaica, drawn against Poland and even managed to earn full points with a hard-fought win over Madagascar in the opening match of the African Cup of Nations League.

As this match will be played at Guinea-Bissau team's home ground, so it seems to me Super Eagles might be mentally weak in this match as the influence of the hosts' fans will be more. At the moment, it can be assumed that if Nigeria win this match today, they will make it two matches in a row and the Super Eagles will be able to qualify for next season's African Cup of Nations.

[Davidloki]

Headlines can be so misleading and if one is careful, one will easily fall for these bloggers and their antics to cause chaos all in the name of looking for who will click. I saw one headline about an Egypt player joining Salah out of the camp, the headline was such in a way that one will think his the one leaving the camp. I opened the link only to see that his not part of the team travelling to South Sudan for the second match of the qualifiers due to injury. These bloggers will twist anything just for a click.

It's clearly for engagement purposes, which explains the importance of verifying an information before posting here in the forum. There are a good number of Twitter handles that are known for posting click baits to boost their engagement and many people under the comment section do not still realise the purpose of that post.

There was a recent headline about the Ballon D'or winner which popped up on my device and I was forced to check it out, knowing fully well that it was a false news but curiosity got me there. That's what these bloggers do, using flashy headlines to draw people's attention.

[Jostern]

Today Guinea Bissau will be hosting Nigeria at Estadio Nacional 24 de setembro, Bissau. For me this game is supposed to be a good win for the Super eagles. This game is going to be a tough game as the two teams are currently at the top of the table. It's going to be tough and being a game away from home, fans influence could be massive. But I still believe the super eagles will win and top the table. The super eagles need to qualify for the Next year's African Cup of Nations and their performance in this qualification will give a good hope for the main event come next year.

This African Cup of Nations League Qualifier match will be tough for both teams as both teams are currently on top of the points table but I will pick Nigeria to win this match. In fact Nigeria are already performing well as they have won club friendly matches against Jamaica, drawn against Poland and even managed to earn full points with a hard-fought win over Madagascar in the opening match of the African Cup of Nations League.

As this match will be played at Guinea-Bissau team's home ground, so it seems to me Super Eagles might be mentally weak in this match as the influence of the hosts' fans will be more. At the moment, it can be assumed that if Nigeria win this match today, they will make it two matches in a row and the Super Eagles will be able to qualify for next season's African Cup of Nations.

Seems like you believe so much in the Super Eagles to win the Guinea-Bissau in the Nations Cup Qualifiers, well judging from recent performances I don’t think it’s going to be an easy game for Nigeria, both teams are playing well, and the strength of both teams looks the same and considering the absence of Victor Osimhen who is injured as reported by Galatasaray.

Guinea-Bissau playing at home is a big advantage for them to get something out of the game, I don’t see any team winning this game, Super Eagles aren’t very good away, they’ve not had a good result away in recent games, so I don’t see how the Super Eagles wins this game.

[Princess Leah]

This African Cup of Nations League Qualifier match will be tough for both teams as both teams are currently on top of the points table but I will pick Nigeria to win this match. In fact Nigeria are already performing well as they have won club friendly matches against Jamaica, drawn against Poland and even managed to earn full points with a hard-fought win over Madagascar in the opening match of the African Cup of Nations League.

As this match will be played at Guinea-Bissau team's home ground, so it seems to me Super Eagles might be mentally weak in this match as the influence of the hosts' fans will be more. At the moment, it can be assumed that if Nigeria win this match today, they will make it two matches in a row and the Super Eagles will be able to qualify for next season's African Cup of Nations.

There no doubt that the match would be tough for the Super Eagles, they struggled to win at home so playing away where there would be lesser fans to cheer them would be tougher however the Super Eagles have what it takes to beat Guinea-Bissau, i meant a team of more experienced players but experience won't be enough if they don't put efforts to win.
 
 The Super Eagles have to aim for the whole points and try to score as many goals as possible so they can claim the first spot from Guinea Bissau. Goodluck to the Super Eagles.

[Stepstowealth]

Guinea-Bissau playing at home is a big advantage for them to get something out of the game, I don’t see any team winning this game, Super Eagles aren’t very good away, they’ve not had a good result away in recent games, so I don’t see how the Super Eagles wins this game.

In the last four games where these two teams have played there has not been any draw between them, Nigeria has won three of those games with Guinea-Bissau claiming only one victory and that was in March of 2023 and it was in an away fixture where they played in Nigeria. Nigeria has won most of the away fixtures that we have gone to Guinea-Bissau to play, I think today's game will not be different, the team already has the momentum from the win in their last game, they have some confidence that they can win games without Osimhen, and they can do it again.

[9ja Amaka]

Today Guinea Bissau will be hosting Nigeria at Estadio Nacional 24 de setembro, Bissau. For me this game is supposed to be a good win for the Super eagles. This game is going to be a tough game as the two teams are currently at the top of the table. It's going to be tough and being a game away from home, fans influence could be massive. But I still believe the super eagles will win and top the table. The super eagles need to qualify for the Next year's African Cup of Nations and their performance in this qualification will give a good hope for the main event come next year.

Preferred XI to start against Guinea-Bissau.

Stanley Nwabali should remain in goal. Our RB should be Ajayi, Benjamin Federick RCB, Bassey LCB, and Bruno Onyemechi will start at RB.

Then, in the midfield, as usual, we should have the pairing of Wilfred Ndidi, Onyeka, and Iwobi. Finally, at the front, Ademola Lookman, Uchenna, and Akor Adams.

[knowngunman]

Preferred XI to start against Guinea-Bissau.

Stanley Nwabali should remain in goal. Our RB should be Ajayi, Benjamin Federick RCB, Bassey LCB, and Bruno Onyemechi will start at RB.

Then, in the midfield, as usual, we should have the pairing of Wilfred Ndidi, Onyeka, and Iwobi. Finally, at the front, Ademola Lookman, Uchenna, and Akor Adams.

Guinea Bissau is the strongest team in our group. Not that they are far better than Super Eagle but because they play with dedication. The result speaks for itself. They beat Tanzania with a cleanshit but we conceded first against Madagascar at home even though we turned things around later.

At this point I don't really care about the lines up and formation. Winning is the only thing that matters today. If Okoye can give better results than Nwabali then he should starts Okoye. Same with other players too. I don't expect much from super eagle but anyhow anyhow, they should just win at all cost.

[Bigjoe33]

Guinea-Bissau playing at home is a big advantage for them to get something out of the game, I don’t see any team winning this game, Super Eagles aren’t very good away, they’ve not had a good result away in recent games, so I don’t see how the Super Eagles wins this game.

In the last four games where these two teams have played there has not been any draw between them, Nigeria has won three of those games with Guinea-Bissau claiming only one victory and that was in March of 2023 and it was in an away fixture where they played in Nigeria. Nigeria has won most of the away fixtures that we have gone to Guinea-Bissau to play, I think today's game will not be different, the team already has the momentum from the win in their last game, they have some confidence that they can win games without Osimhen, and they can do it again.

It's just so bad that Nigerians are not always happy and sometimes not even supportive because the team has fallen out of grace I'm winning matches when it matters and also qualify for major trophies. The have failed to qualify for the world cup twice in a row and that's a bad feeling for there supporters.

It's an away game, and surely, it's gonna be tough for them. The super eagles sometimes even find it difficult to win home games, and for the fact that the match is away, then, it's already a tough one for them. With quality present in the Nigerian national team, they should win easily, but it has not always been the case. Well, we will see what they can do with all there quality squad. The game will be on in less than an hour.

[Samlucky O]

The team almost messed up in their last match but thanks to the two goals that came after to ensure the win, Nigeria likes playing under pressure, the last qualifier for the world cup, we had many disappointing results away from home, matches we were supposed to win without stress came as a draw or loss which affected our chances of going for the major competition. The last match brought those memories after the goal but thanks the team was able to turn it all around by winning. Today, we shouldn't be making such mistakes, go for the win from the start of the match to keep the fans mind at ease, if possible score early to put the pressure on Guinea-Bissau

[Merit.s]

Guinea Bissau is the strongest team in our group. Not that they are far better than Super Eagle but because they play with dedication. The result speaks for itself. They beat Tanzania with a cleanshit but we conceded first against Madagascar at home even though we turned things around later.

At this point I don't really care about the lines up and formation. Winning is the only thing that matters today. If Okoye can give better results than Nwabali then he should starts Okoye. Same with other players too. I don't expect much from super eagle but anyhow anyhow, they should just win at all cost.

Conceding first doesn't mean anything in today's game because that's past and this isn't Madagascar. The outcome of your first game doesn't tell the same for the second game.

I don't want to say it with full assurance that Super Eagles will not be defeated by Guinea Bissau because the coach is going to use those players who are hungry to make name in order for big clubs to sign them. Nigeria has the quality but they lack the morale and commitment.

[Roseline492]

Aït-Nouri has been released from international duties following Algeria's 3-1 victory in the AFCON qualifier against Zambia. The head coach Brahim Hemadani said he will never call Aït-Nouri for international duty as long as he remains the head coach of the national team. The fallout was clearly from Aït-Nouri's reaction to tactical changes that made Brahim Hemdani to his to sit back down until his team starts leading. When he was asked to warm up again later, Aït-Nouri refused the instruction.

I don't know what came over him on the match, he wasn't supposed to feel bad about it because what every coach is looking for is stability and good performance so even if the coach changed his mind of playing him on the first time is not enough to upset him, he should have even be happy they wanted him on the match because their are some Algerian defenders who didn't even had the opportunity to appear on their matches, so actually I like the coach action on him because that's what they called discipline and this is going to be an indirect retirement from Rayan Ait Nouri because the coach is likely going to be spending a lot of years in the team.

[Obulis]

Most of the super eagles players were developed in Europe, they received every necessary football training in Europe and you can’t compare European football and African football. If this players are being given the necessary equipment and provided by the standard training facilities here in Nigeria you will see a change in the playing pattern.  I won’t doubt that they played differently when playing for the national team especially at home but we should also consider a lot of things that could change their playing patterns here at hone. When you look at the pitch here, mostly they’re nothing to write home about, the stadium and the facilities are not standard when compared to the ones they use in Europe. The way the management treats them at home will also affect their level of commitment and performance when playing for the national team. I think the structure needs to start from the Federation. The NFF need to stop playing politics with Nigeria football and develop the equipment and facilities. You talk of Morocco football how they players are playing well it boils down to the transformative works and investment from their football federation.

Well you made good points though. But everyone knows the issue of lack of training facilities has been there for a very long time and to me that isn't the major reason for their incompetence, Yeah I know lack of training facilities is part of it. But honestly, some of our players don't show the same readiness for the national team as they do in their clubs. If not even with average training facilities they could do much better in my opinion.

Men! Are you trying to undermine the necessity of good training equipments? That is not possible and not correct. Psychologically, with inadequate faculties haven used world class facilities, your readiness or willingness to perform will definitely drop knowingly or unknowingly and that will affect the performance of the team entirely. If one of such players is in the defense, poor defense would have it's negative effects and sometimes will lead to the team losing the match, what if it's in the frontliners the strikers? he or they will likely perform badly and that can lead to the team not scoring any goal or enough goals to have a win.
Talking about the training facilities, the training environment in it's entirety is also another influence. Like @silikem pointed that most of these players are Europe trained, then Match the environment, Very different isn't it?

[Mr Reporter]

Today Guinea Bissau will be hosting Nigeria at Estadio Nacional 24 de setembro, Bissau. For me this game is supposed to be a good win for the Super eagles. This game is going to be a tough game as the two teams are currently at the top of the table. It's going to be tough and being a game away from home, fans influence could be massive. But I still believe the super eagles will win and top the table. The super eagles need to qualify for the Next year's African Cup of Nations and their performance in this qualification will give a good hope for the main event come next year.

I heard you say a straightforward win for the super Eagles it made me laugh the only straightforward win is on paper not in the real life, well let me not be to fat, to judge or predict but away games in Africa are said to be never easy….

But since both teams are at the top of the table they have nothing to lose and will likely park the bus and try to hit us on the counter, from what I was hearing I think us Nigeria this game is just more than 3 points to us…

[Stable090]

Seems like you believe so much in the Super Eagles to win the Guinea-Bissau in the Nations Cup Qualifiers, well judging from recent performances I don’t think it’s going to be an easy game for Nigeria, both teams are playing well, and the strength of both teams looks the same and considering the absence of Victor Osimhen who is injured as reported by Galatasaray.

Anyone trusting super eagles is doing that at his own risk, I never trust the super eagles whenever they are playing anymore, they are just full of surprises, and mostly they don’t always impress us whenever they are playing, so am not even expecting anything much from them in the match. I just hope they will be able to get a win today, but to be honest the match is not going to be a easy one for super eagles, now that they are even finding it difficult to score goals, Osimhen which is always assisting us in the attack is currently injured, and his absence is really affecting the super eagles.

[el che]

Aït-Nouri has been released from international duties following Algeria's 3-1 victory in the AFCON qualifier against Zambia. The head coach Brahim Hemadani said he will never call Aït-Nouri for international duty as long as he remains the head coach of the national team. The fallout was clearly from Aït-Nouri's reaction to tactical changes that made Brahim Hemdani to his to sit back down until his team starts leading. When he was asked to warm up again later, Aït-Nouri refused the instruction.

It's a huge risk for Hemdani to cut ties with one of Algeria's best players right when he takes charge. A coach needs to show discipline but permanently freezing out someone like Aït Nouri just because of a small fight on the sideline hurts the team's depth. If the team starts losing, fans won't care about a the argument, they will just blame the coach for pushing away top players.

[programmer3666]

Preferred XI to start against Guinea-Bissau.

Stanley Nwabali should remain in goal. Our RB should be Ajayi, Benjamin Federick RCB, Bassey LCB, and Bruno Onyemechi will start at RB.

Then, in the midfield, as usual, we should have the pairing of Wilfred Ndidi, Onyeka, and Iwobi. Finally, at the front, Ademola Lookman, Uchenna, and Akor Adams.

Guinea Bissau is the strongest team in our group. Not that they are far better than Super Eagle but because they play with dedication. The result speaks for itself. They beat Tanzania with a cleanshit but we conceded first against Madagascar at home even though we turned things around later.

At this point I don't really care about the lines up and formation. Winning is the only thing that matters today. If Okoye can give better results than Nwabali then he should starts Okoye. Same with other players too. I don't expect much from super eagle but anyhow anyhow, they should just win at all cost.

The Super Eagles midfield trio ae just too sloppy and  I jsut think still relying on the exact same trio that includes Ndidi, Onyeka and Iwobi will just be another tactical mistake in this match. We all saw how their combination went to sleep and allowed the Madagascar team to score first before individual luck saved the day for them. Guinea Bissau plays with very intense and physical pressure. If the Eagles roam in laziness in that midfield today, those guys will punish the hell out of our goalkeeper.

[Agbe]

The team almost messed up in their last match but thanks to the two goals that came after to ensure the win, Nigeria likes playing under pressure, the last qualifier for the world cup, we had many disappointing results away from home, matches we were supposed to win without stress came as a draw or loss which affected our chances of going for the major competition. The last match brought those memories after the goal but thanks the team was able to turn it all around by winning. Today, we shouldn't be making such mistakes, go for the win from the start of the match to keep the fans mind at ease, if possible score early to put the pressure on Guinea-Bissau

Before Nigeria gae starts, let see some of the matches of the day. Lesotho was beaten by Morocco today with 2-0. B. Díaz scored the first goal in 45 minutes while A. Ounahi scored the second goal in 82 minutes. And for the match between Gabon vs Niger is by 8:00. That match is unpredictable. I will choose double chance to predict that match. South Sudan received 5-0 from Egypt. That was nice displayed from Egypt. Ghana vs Gambia is ongoing. Ghana supposed win this match.

Guinea-Bissauh has scored 1 goal in the 15 minutes of the match and it was scored by Franculino. Nigeria has to do well to win. The match.

[Ruttoshi]

What an outstanding goal from Franculino. He broke the deadlock for GNB on the 15th minutes to give them the lead. This is exactly, the same time Madagascar took the lead in Nigeria match day one. I believe that Nigeria still have plenty of time to fight back and get an equaliser. They did it against Madagascar, they can still do it again.

I don't know why Nigeria defenders allowed Franculino to penetrate their defense and take that shot. The score line is 1-0.

[kingstep]

Today Guinea Bissau will be hosting Nigeria at Estadio Nacional 24 de setembro, Bissau. For me this game is supposed to be a good win for the Super eagles. This game is going to be a tough game as the two teams are currently at the top of the table. It's going to be tough and being a game away from home, fans influence could be massive. But I still believe the super eagles will win and top the table. The super eagles need to qualify for the Next year's African Cup of Nations and their performance in this qualification will give a good hope for the main event come next year.

This African Cup of Nations League Qualifier match will be tough for both teams as both teams are currently on top of the points table but I will pick Nigeria to win this match. In fact Nigeria are already performing well as they have won club friendly matches against Jamaica, drawn against Poland and even managed to earn full points with a hard-fought win over Madagascar in the opening match of the African Cup of Nations League.

It is indeed another test for the super eagles and how they respond to this one will tell if they have learnt from the issue in the last world cup qualification where they failed to take advantage of the early games and when it mattered most, the win they eventually had didn't matter again. regardless that they are playing away from home, i am still rooting a win for them because winning this will make it much easier for them in the remaining games they will be playing.

Just like what happened in the last match, Nigeria has gone one nil down in the first half and will have to try and come from behind if they taking a point from this game.