Can Nigeria avoid another AFCON qualification disaster?

The Super Eagles

Super Eagles

Super Eagles

Nigeria continues its quest to qualify for the 2021 African Cup of Nations on Friday when they host Sierra Leone in a Group L encounter.

The Super Eagles got their qualifying campaign off to a great start with wins over Benin and Lesotho. When the campaign resumes, almost an entire year will have passed since their last qualification outing, which took place on November 17, 2019.

The Covid-19 pandemic has put preparations on hold and forced tournament organisers to push back dates for the competition proper. Three-time winners of the trophy, Nigeria will be, as ever, among the favourites to lift the cup. However, while they are among the teams tipped to win it in every edition, their most recent title was won way back in 2013, when they beat Burkino Faso 1-0.

Sunday Mba was the goalscoring hero on that day but forward Emmanuel Emenike took home the Golden Boot with four goals and three assists. So what happened in the subsequent tournaments to deny Nigeria the right to add to their trophy collection?

2015 had an unfortunately similar theme around that as the upcoming one: Disease. The Ebola epidemic was panicking scheduled hosts Morocco, who demanded that AFCON was postponed until they got a handle on it.

The response they got was not especially humanistic but it did address the problem: They took the rights off Morocco and gave the tournament to Equatorial Guinea.

Reigning champions Nigeria didn’t have to worry too much about where the tournament was held as they didn’t even qualify. A dismal qualifying campaign meant they had to watch everything from home. Ivory Coast beat Ghana in the final.

If this lit a fire in the bellies of Nigeria’s players, it went out by the time the next qualifying campaign came around. For the second time in a row, they failed to qualify for the tournament.

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AFCON 2017 was initially going to be held in Libya but an ongoing war in the country saw the hosting rights switch to Gabon. Cameroon and Egypt met in the final, the former collecting their fifth title with a 2-1 win.

Holders Cameroon were set to host the 2019 edition but the sad theme of complications changing hosting hands continued. Boko Haram, civil war, and a delay to the infrastructure contributed to Egypt stepping in to take over hosting duties.

Nigeria, helped by a squad featuring Wilfred Ndidi and Odion Ighalo, reached their first AFCON since their 2013 title win. They didn’t just make up the numbers either, narrowly losing to a stoppage-time Riyad Mahrez winner in their semi-final against eventual winners Algeria.

It was a bitter blow but it didn’t stop them from raising their game in the third-place play-off, beating Tunisia 1-0. Ighalo hit the strike that downed Tunisia and collected the Golden Boot for his five-goal haul.

The good times were back. Or, at least, the bad times were temporarily gone. Only lifting the trophy can be considered good enough for a team with as many stars as the Super Eagles.

However, history shows that they cannot get complacent in the qualifying stages. To keep an eye on how Nigeria navigate their way through the rest of the group, visit Wincomparator.

There you can find expert betting previews on every major game happening worldwide along with the best odds available for every outcome.

The Super Eagles have fallen in the past but we back them to soar.

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