46 years after, Nigeria meet Sudan again as Eguavoen plays down favourite tag

Forty- six years after Nigeria defeated Sudan in an Afcon match, a new generation of Super Eagles players on Saturday have an opportunity to carry on from where their elders in the beautiful game stopped, by beating Sudan and qualify for the next round of the championships.

Nigeria and Sudan are meeting for the third time at the Afcon, but it’s their first encounter at the tournament for 46 years. Sudan won the first match 4-0 in the 1963 group phase whilst Nigeria won the second 1-0 in 1976.

Saturday's Group D match is slated for 5 pm at the Roumde Adjia Stadium, Garoua.

Nigeria and Sudan have had contrasting scorecards in the Afcon in recent times.

Nigeria have won 10 of their last 12 Afcon games, keeping six clean sheets. Following a draw in their opening match against Guinea-Bissau (0-0), Sudan have managed just one win in their last 14 Africa Cup of Nations games, dating back to the 1972 edition.

 Nigeria won their opening game (1-0 against Egypt) to an Afcon for the second tournament running, having failed to win their first match in four of their previous five appearances.

After scoring in his very first Afcon game, Kelechi Iheanacho could become the first Nigerian player to score in his first two Afcon appearances since Emmanuel Emenike in January 2013 if he finds the net against Sudan Saturday evening.

Meanwhile, Super Eagles coach Austin Eguavoen told our correspondent in Cameroon that our boys will not underrate Sudan rather they will play their normal game with their sight on three points and qualification for the next round as group winners.

, “I have shared my past experience with the team so they don’t lose grip, which gives the team a serious guard.

 “The boys know that any setback will put us in bad stead, so we talk to ourselves regularly. Our eyes are on our target. We are putting our feet on the ground. We don’t expect to lose steam after that performance against Egypt.

“We also don’t expect every game to be smooth, but we will try to win every game in this tournament.”

 “It’s hard to say that we are the favourites after one win (against Egypt). We all know that Egypt are seven-time champions of the competition and they are not pushovers. The Pharaohs are a very strong team and whoever thinks they are not a strong team is making a big mistake.

“We were able to neutralise them and were lucky at some point as well.

“Though we played very well in that game but talks about being favourites now are too early. We will approach the next game with all seriousness and respect and after crossing that hurdle we look forward to the next game (against Guinea Bissau).”

Eguavoen is expected to retain the eleven players that defeat Egypt for today’s game. A major doubt is Kenneth Omeruo whose fitness is still being assessed as at late on Friday.