By Jacob Ajom

The Super Eagles of Nigeria will battle seven-time African champions Egypt in the third place match of the Africa Cup of Nations, Morocco 2025 this evening in Casablanca. At stake is the bronze medal.

This is not the match that either country wanted to be involved in this weekend.

However, Egypt struggled in their semi-final with Senegal, which was decided by a late Sadio Mane goal, before Nigeria went all the way to penalties with the hosts Morocco, losing 4-2.

The chance to finish third is still on offer, and it would be the fourth time that Egypt have finished third in the tournament, previously claiming that position in 1963, 1970 and 1974.

As for three-time winners Nigeria, it would be the ninth time that the national side have been third in AFCON, most recently in 2019.

These two teams last locked horns in the group stage of the Africa Cup of Nations in January 2022, and it was Nigeria that recorded a 1-0 win. Before this tournament the Super Eagles lost to the Pharaohs 2-1 in a friendly game played in Egypt.

In Morocco, however, the Super Eagles played themselves back into the consciousness of Nigerians as they reinvented their winning ways and smashed all opposition in their way. The Eric Chelle-tutored side has been fairing well. The Nigerian team suddenly transformed into a fearsome team with the most lethal attack on the continent. They qualified for the semi-final, scoring a total of 14 goals, the best by any team in the tournament and kept three clean sheets. Their 2-0 demolition of the Desert Foxes of Algeria in the quarter final gave many Nigerians hope that the trophy was in sight.

Then came Morocco, the hosts in the semi final match. After a strong start, minutes later the Eagles’ wings were clipped; the fire in them extinguished and the Moroccans succeeded in marking them out of their stride. The free flowing football the Nigerians exhibited in the early stages of the tournament suddenly became a distant memory as the Moroccans swarmed over them with rehearsed precision. What went wrong? What happened to the Eagles?

Former Nigeria international and a former assistant coach to late coach Stephen Keshi, during the 2013 AFCON-winning campaign, Sylvanus Okpala volunteered his technical opinion as he told Sports Vanguard that the Atlas Lions were tactically better than the Super Eagles in that encounter.

“The Super Eagles tried very well. I think their performance in Morocco was very good generally,” he said. “What happened to them was simple. The Moroccans were more tactical and they read our team very well, mapped out their plans and executed them to the letter.”

Okpala said, “After studying the Nigerian team, they adopted a strategy to neutralise our team and we couldn’t counter them.”

He observed that for them(the Moroccans) to cut off supplies to Osimhen, Lookman and Akor, they seized the midfield. They outplayed us in the midfield, as one may have observed, they forced Iwobi out of the midfield and we saw how he was drifting to the right and sometimes to the left of the pitch.

“I expected Iwobi to remain there in the midfield and fight it out with them.”

Okpala said the suspension of Nigeria’s captain, Wilfred Ndidi actually had a telling effect on the Super Eagles game. “We missed Ndidi, who I think played his best football for Nigeria in this tournament. Before that match, I was interviewed and I predicted Nigeria would miss his services.”

Raphael Onyedika, who replaced him, offered nowhere near the same level of physicality, and was unable to impose himself on the proceedings, thereby weakening Nigeria’s competitiveness.

Continuing, Okpala said, “we were somehow slow. I also expected Lookman to be returning deeper than he was doing. Our boys did well. We couldn’t score because they read our game and came up with a way to stop our strike force. It worked for them. They marked us out in the midfield and cut off supplies to Osimhen. We needed to fight back in the midfield. 

The former Enugu Rangers coach pointed out that Morocco’s two central defenders and their defensive midfielders did a wonderful job on the Nigerian game plan. “They neutralised the Nigerian midfield and made things difficult for us. We could not counter them. They controlled possession, had more attempts at goal but our defence did well. Generally, the Super Eagles played well.”

Morocco coach, Walid Regragui corroborated Okpala’s observation when in his post match briefing said, “Tactically, we can’t share all the details. The plan was to stop their playmaker Iwobi, and he was looking to pass the ball to Osimhen and Lookman.

“It was a bit tough because it needed a lot of energy. We needed to push harder, keep moving back to stay organized, get the ball back when passes were bad, and then move fast to start attacking.

“We did that a few times, especially on Achraf Hakimi’s side, because Mazraoui is right-footed, so we couldn’t make more chances there.

“We had a complete game. For some players, I really admire them.”

Meanwhile, most Nigerians believe the Moroccans may not have overwhelmed the Super Eagles if they played at a neutral ground.

This can be easy to overlook, but the home crowd played a major part in the flow of the game. Inside a full Stade Prince Moulay Abdellah, the noise was fearsome and the ambiance was suffocating. A sea of red, complete with whistles, welcomed the Super Eagles to Rabat, tried to rattle them  even before the Atlas Lions had a chance to do so.