Weak Algerian Foxes may be too hot for Spinless Eagles on Tuesday

The Super Eagles of Nigeria who play the Desert Foxes of Algeria on Tuesday are not anything close to their nicknames Super Eagles.

Forget that they beat Sierra-Leone and a team of carpenter and bricklayers from Sao Tome in their recent matches,

Our Boys are no longer Super and they don’t fly like a chicken talk less of an Eagles.

The poor state of our national teams is one the negative legacies of Amaju Pinnick eight years of the locusts.

But that’s a story for another day.

The Desert of the Eagles’ opponents on Tuesday is no longer oven hot while their Foxes are no longer a threat to fowls much less a real Eagles 

But they could still be a threat to Our Boys and everything point to the fact that in today’s encounter the not too Desert and the weak Foxes will caught our spinless Super Chicken and roost them for dinner. 

The two former continental champions who failed to qualify for the Qatar 2022 World Cup play 8.00 pm in a friendly match at the Olympic Stadium in Oran.

The game is part of the two teams' building up towards qualification for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’ Ivoire.

Ahead of Tuesday’s game, Algeria defeated Guinea 1-0 in Oran on Friday, while Nigeria managed a 2-2 draw with the home-based Algerian team in Constantine on the same day.

That win is the Foxes’ fourth on the trot, and they will be full of confidence in front of a partisan home crowd against a Nigerian side looking for their third win under Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro.

There have been 21 meetings between Nigeria and Algeria, with either side winning nine apiece aside three draws.

The last draw, though, was in 1993 – nearly thirty years ago – and Nigeria have won six of the nine games since.

Algeria, however, have recent momentum on their side, claiming victories at the semifinal of the 2019 Afcon in Egypt and in a 2020 friendly in Austria.

Injuries to key players ensured Nigeria arrived in Algeria without the influential duo of Napoli’s Victor Osimhen and Real Sociedad’s Umar Sadiq.

Even in Constantine, the ill luck did not wane as Wilfred Ndidi and stand-in captain William Troost-Ekong were forced to leave camp due to injury.

But Jose Peseiro can still put up a respectably solid team blessed with the attacking talents of Kelechi Iheanacho, Taiwo Awoniyi, Cyriel Dessers, and in-form Lorient star Terem Moffi.

The Foxes are typically difficult to beat in front of their vociferous supporters.

Before their extra-time defeat to Cameroon in March, the Desert Foxes had not tasted defeat on home soil in four years.

Place that besides a Super Eagles without their best stars and with only one win in their last 16 friendly matches, and an Algerian win does not need a seer to forecast.

Meanwhile, Alex Iwobi will look to make his 60th appearance for the Super Eagles in Tuesday’s friendly against the Desert Foxes of Algeria.

The Everton star has so far scored 10 goals in 59 appearances for the three-time African champions.

The 26-year-old made his debut for the Super Eagles in October 2015, replacing Ahmed Musa in the 2-0 friendly defeat to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The former Arsenal player scored the goal that qualified the Super Eagles for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

He has represented the Super Eagles at two Africa Cup of Nations finals.