What Can Super Eagles Expect to Achieve in Cameroon AFCON 2022

 

 Afcon starts... 

The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is scheduled to be hosted by Cameroon, as the 33rd edition of the biennial international men's football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). 

The tournament was originally scheduled to be played in June and July 2021, but the CAF announced on 15 January 2020 that due to unfavourable climatic conditions during this period, the tournament would take place between 9 January and 6 February 2021. 

On 30 June 2020, CAF moved the tournament for the third time to January 2022 following the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the Last edition... 

Super Eagles finished third position after a 0 - 1 loss to the eventual winners Algeria by a late goal in the semi finals. 

It was Gernot Rohr first attempt in the tournament as head coach of Nigeria national team. Rohr had a matching order to continue to rebuild a fresh team for Nigeria, where Sunday Oliseh (the previous head coach) left off. And the German tactician took to the tournament a young team with an average age of 24 years. 

Rohr had taken the same team to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia,  a year before, which gave the boys a kind of competitive readiness for the 2019 Afcon in Egypt. 

This time around... 

The Super Eagles has qualified again for Afcon scheduled to hold January 2022 in Cameroon. Here we look at the progress of the team and what it can achieve in the coming year.  This time, Afcon will be coming up first, to probably prepare the team for Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup. 

The team is likely to be without the tournament top goal scorer, Odion Ighalo. And some of it's experienced players that has retired from intentional duties John Mikel Obi and probably, Ahmed Musa.

Has Super Eagles Improved Since 2019? 

The Covid-19 lockdown affected the progress of Super Eagles as a team, as the players didn't come together to train or to play any match for close to year. The resultant effect left much to be desired as the team threw over board a 4 - 0 lead to draw at home in Afcon qualifiers against a minnow Sierra Leone team. 

FIFA ranking... 

Gernot Rohr’s side remain the fifth- best country in Africa with Senegal retaining the no. 1 spot, followed by Tunisia , Algeria and Morocco in the second , third and fourth positions , respectively. The Super Eagles accrued a total of 1474 points within the month of February 2021.

Quality of individual players in the Super Eagles team... 

Victor Osihmen, the €84m Napoli striker seem to be one quality Nigeria will be looking upto stir up the winning streak for the Super Eagles in Cameroon. But there's one Paul Onuachu on top of his game as one of the highest goal scorers in Europe; 27 goals in 31 games for Genk in the Belgium Jupiter league. 

Kelechi Iheanacho, has recently rekindled his form as an attacking midfielder and a false striker for Leicester City in the Premier League, scoring a hat trick and a brace in his last two games. A record of 7 goals in 4 games. 

One player that the world is watching to explode anytime now is Samuel Chukwueze, who plays for the La Liga side, Villarreal. The left winger can single handedly wreck any team's defense line. We are hoping he will be on top of his game during the fiesta in Cameroon. 

At the heart of the team is perhaps one of the best ball winners in the world today, Wilfred Ndidi, who also play for Leicester city. One man that can dictate the pace of any game and stabilize the play of his team from the midfield. 

Yeah, Super Eagles players are getting playing time in their clubs, but one thing still lacking, I think, is an exceptional creative midfielder with character and boldness of play. Something Alex Iwobi of Premier League Everton or Joe Aribo of Rangers in the Scottish Premiership, cannot pilot effectively. 

Play Badly and Keep Winning

Gernot Rohrs may have changed the playing philosophy of the Nigerian side. The traditional tiki taka that was a mixture of the Brazilian-dutch style, which allow players to fully express themselves in the pitch and get fans cheering in a euphoric entertainment. 

Rohr's  formation is a more compact style that limit the free flow of the ball. 4-2-3-1 pattern that put more men in the middle and defense line. The striker is worst off as a lone player upfront, among the crowd of opposing defenders. 

This formation has been very difficult for the Nigerian players to adopt effectively, but it has been churning out the right results, especially at the continental level. The team seems to be playing badly, but are winning more of their games. 

In 2017/ 18, Super Eagles qualified for both Afcon and the world Cup with a game to spare. And Rohr has repeated the feat again this year. There seems to be no more struggles when it comes to the qualification for the continental tournament and the Mundial. However, the fans are no longer feeling the passion or enjoying the play of their darling national team. 

Great expectations... 

In 2018, the Nigerian national team was regarded as a young side, Now in 2022, is the time for great exploits. I guess the fans will no longer buy the excuse that the team is still a work in progress. 

The fans are even looking beyond Afcon, they expect the Super Eagles to make history in 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.  If Rohr fails to win Afcon 2022 in Cameroon, he would be sacked and would not be the one in charge of the team to the world Cup.