AFCON QUALIFIER PREVIEW:

 Super Eagles Must Start Well.

 

Another race for the African Nations Cup title is set to commence as the 2019 AFCON Qualifiers would get underway this weekend across the continent. It is yet another time for national sides to cross swords and contest for a place in the AFCON finals to be staged in Cameroon come 2019.

The Super Eagles of Nigeria must be out to banish the demons of back to back AFCON no shows having missed out on the 2015 and 2017 editions. The 2015 debacle came with the Super Eagles in champions´ capacity after having won the 2013 tournament under the tutelage of the late Stephen Okechukwu Keshi in South Africa. However, a 2-2 draw at home to the South Africans in the final game of the 2015 AFCON Qualifiers ensured that Nigeria would not be able to defend the gong in Equatorial Guinea which heralded failure.

The harum scarum that usually bedevils the national team took its reverberating toll and after the joke cracked with Sunday Oliseh's appointment and ill-fated reign, as well as the rescue mission of Samson Siasia after that which also faltered, Nigeria sat out of 2017 also.

A new dawn seems to be on the horizon though, as new boss Gernot Rhor continues to build a new young side. The Franco German seems to have a plan and at the moment, it seems to be working with the super eagles picking up two consecutive victories in a deadly group in the World Cup Qualifiers to top the pool.

However, strenuous and sterner tests are yet to be encountered by the young side whose exuberance and vibrancy is not in doubt. The super eagles have a number of important and pivotal games coming up first of which is the AFCON qualifying match with the Bafana Bafana of South Africa on Saturday at the Akwa Ibom Stadium in Uyo. It is the first step in their bid to qualify from Group E which also has Seychelles and Libya in the draw.

The history between these two sides goes way back with Nigeria boasting a superior record competitively. However, the South Africans are fast wriggling into lime light and are a decent team on the continent. Nevertheless, the rivalry between both nations would have been intensified with the ousting of Nigeria from the 2015 qualifiers which was confirmed in the last meeting at the Nest of Champions in Uyo two years ago.

The visitors are also with a much changed team and a new coach in Stuart Baxter who would lead the Bafana Bafana out against the Super Eagles for the first time since his return to the bench - a daunting start to his reign. He would be hoping to draw from the experience of a victory he masterminded in a 2-1 win over the Super Eagles at the Soccer City Stadium back in 2004 in his first spell in charge. A first competitive win over their West African opposition however remains elusive.

It is important for a solid start to be made and Rhor's men would need a confidence boosting win which would go a long way to appease fans for the scandalous connotations of the result of the last match between these two. It would also indicate a full recuperation from the anomaly of the ensuing demise of the national team on the continental stage.

As recent FIFA World Ranking positions profess, there has been an upward curve since Rhor began to wave his wand and it must continue. The team that would line up against the South Africans is a much changed one with the likes of Vincent Eyeama, whose position in the national team picture remains unclear (is he retired or not), as well as China based captain of the side, John Obi Mikel, Victor Moses, who dazzled brilliantly in Chelsea's colours in the just concluded season and Carl Ikeme who has stepped into goal with reassuring performances  are all set to miss the game for one reason or another. It gives room for the young and burgeoning talents to ruffle feathers.

It would be a tight and interesting encounter but, greater than the joy of heaping more misery on our perennial rivals, an assurance of a return to the big time is the main goal.