Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye is optimistic the team can bounce back from their uninspiring 1-1 draw against Equatorial Guinea when they take on hosts Ivory Coast on Thursday (today) at the ongoing 2013 AFCON.
The Eagles head into Thursday’s (today) fixture looking to recover from their disappointing start and get their quest for a fourth continental glory back on track.
Ideye, a member of the Nigerian squad that defeated Ivory Coast 2-1 in the quarter-final of the 2013 edition in South Africa, admits that a loss could prove costly for the Eagles in their quest to advance from the group stage.
“It was a bit scary watching the last game as the Eagles drew 1-1 against Equatorial Guinea,” Ideye told PUNCH Sports Extra.
“I feel a bit disappointed that we didn’t win our first game against Equatorial Guinea but hopefully we hope we can beat Ivory Coast on Thursday.
“The game against Ivory Coast will decide if we will come home early or qualify from the group. We can beat them again like we did in 2013. We have the quality to achieve that.”
Incidentally, Nigeria won the title back in 2013, when they finished as runners-up in Group C before going all the way to the final, where they claimed a narrow 1-0 victory over Burkina Faso at the First National Bank Stadium, Johannesburg.
Also, former Eagles captain Austin Okocha backed striker Victor Osimhen to redeem his image after missing several scoring chances against Equatorial Guinea.
“We know that Victor Osimhen is a world-class goalscorer, a very great player,” Okocha told journalists in Abidjan.
“He (Osimhen) needs his team’s services and I believe he got them in this first match. It’s not all the time that we see him miss clear opportunities. I think he is eager to correct his mistakes and with him, we have hope and we believe in him because we know he is capable of shining in any competition.”
restored parity less than two minutes after Iban Salvador netted against the run of play to put the Nzalang Nacional in front in the Eagles opening game, but the Nigerians were guilty of wastefulness in front of goal as they failed to tuck home any of their several clear-cut chances.
“I think we didn’t play badly like many people say,” Okocha added.
“There were a lot of positive things that were seen in the match. The only problem is that we didn’t take our opportunities. We created a lot of chances, which is a positive aspect for me. That’s the sign of a good team. It looks like two points lost because we were favourites, but we know how difficult it is to win a match. This is also a good thing because they now know that they are not perfect and that they need to improve on certain things.”
The Eagles will need to be at their best today to avoid the risk of a first group-stage exit since 1982, against the hosts, who are unbeaten in 37 of their last 38 group stage games and are currently on a run of 17 straight matches without defeat in the group stages since 2012.