Nigeria’80
Africa Cup of Nations winners – Christian Chukwu and Henry Nwosu – are
confident that the Super Eagles can put together a winning performance
against Ivory Coast in their South Africa 2013 quarterfinal clash at
Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg, on Sunday.
The Elephants were the first team to
reach the quarterfinals of the continental showpiece, after easy wins
over Togo and Tunisia in Group D. They later fought to a 2-2 draw with
Algeria in their last group game on Wednesday.
On the other hand, Nigeria struggled to
hit the stage after beating Ethiopia 2-0 on Tuesday to add three points
to the two from their earlier Group C encounters with Burkina Faso and
Zambia respectively.
Chukwu and Nwosu, who admitted that the
Eagles face a huge task in checking the Ivorians’ attacking threat
posed by 2012 UEFA Champions League winner Didier Drogba, Arsenal’s
Gervinho and former Chelsea’s Salomon Kalou, tipped Nigeria to reach
the semifinals.
“It’ll be a tough match,” Chukwu, who captained the 1980 winning team, told our correspondent on the telephone on Thursday.
“We have the advantage because our players are younger, and with their speed, they can beat the Ivorians, who are older.
“Drogba is expected to pose a big problem
for our defence but we must deny him a chance to get into our box. If
we don’t do that, he will destroy us.”
However, the ex-international, who led
Nigeria to a third-place finish at Tunisia 2004, warned the Eagles
against focusing solely on Drogba.
He said, “They have dangerous players like us, but we should concentrate on all just their players, including the goalkeeper.
“We should correct our mistakes during
the group stage and aim to win the tournament. We are playing a big
team and I expect a tough match.”
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