Afrigather Victory for Jose Peseiro’s Tremendous Eagles over the Elephants will enhance their possibilities of reaching the Spherical of 16
After a 1-1 draw with Equatorial Guinea of their opening 2023 Africa Cup of Nations fixture, Nigeria could be aiming to safe their first win towards Cote d’Ivoire.
To attain this, they have to negotiate their well past the hosts who bought off to a flying begin following their spectacular 2-0 conquer Guinea Bissau.
These groups are assembly for the sixth time at Afcon, though it’s their first encounter on the event since 2013.
Coach Jean-Louis Gasset’s males shall be buoyed by the truth that they might have Sebastien Haller and Simon Adingra out there for choice.
For the Tremendous Eagles, Alhassan Yusuf is not going to be out there following damage suffered whereas in motion versus Equatorial Guinea on Sunday.
Sport Cote d’Ivoire vs Nigeria
Date Thursday, January 18
Time 6:00pm
TV Channel, Reside Stream & How To Watch
For Soccernet.ng readers in Nigeria, they’ll watch that showdown on SuperSports, NTA and Afro Sports activities.
Squads & Crew Information
Cote d’Ivoire: Charles Folly, Yahia Fofana, Badra Ali Sangare, Evan Ndicka, Wilfried Singo, Ousmane Diomande, Ismael Diallo, Serge Aurier, Odilon Kossounou, Ghislain Konan, Willy-Arnaud Boly, Seko Fofana, Jean Seri, Franck Kessie, Idrissa Doumbia, Ibrahim Sangare, Lazare Amani, Max Gradel, Jeremie Boga, Simon Adingra, Oumar Diakite, Jean-Philippe Krasso, Sebastien Haller, Jonathan Bamba, Christian Kouame, Nicolas Pepe, Karim Konate.
Nigeria: Olorunleke Ojo, Stanley Nwabali, Francis Uzoho, Kenneth Omeruo, William Troost-Ekong, Semi Ajayi, Chidozie Awaziem, Calvin Bassey, Bruno Onyemaechi, Vivid Osayi-Samuel, Ola Aina, Zaidu Sanusi, Alhassan Yusuf, Raphael Onyedika, Joe Aribo, Frank Onyeka, Moses Simon, Ahmed Musa, Alex Iwobi, Victor Osimhen, Kelechi Iheanacho, Samuel Chukwueze, Terem Moffi, Ademola Lookman, Umar Sadiq.
Match Preview
Nigeria know that they’re in for a troublesome battle once they sq. up towards Cote d’Ivoire on Thursday night.
The Tremendous Eagles picked up some extent towards Equatorial Guinea following their 1-1 attract Abidjan – however they are going to have Victor Osimhen to thank for cancelling out Iban Salvador’s opener.
Regardless of going to the sport as underdogs, William Troost-Ekong is bullish of his workforce’s possibilities towards the Elephants.
“We needed to win the primary recreation, however issues didn’t go the best way we needed. We now have put that behind us and the main focus is now on the sport towards Cote d’Ivoire,” he informed the media.
“We now have ready the identical manner, however we hope to win this time round. Arising towards the hosts goes be an enormous problem for us.
“There are a variety of expertise gamers in our workforce, who’ve performed in video games like this prior to now, so there may be nothing to worry for us.
“It’s going to be a troublesome recreation, however I’m assured we’ll win.”
For Ivorian handler Gasset, he’s anticipating his aspect to face challenges from the Tremendous Eagles.
“Nigeria is a prime workforce, they’ve good gamers, a number of the greatest in Africa. You may’t choose them with the primary recreation towards Equatorial Guinea,” he stated.
“I believe they struggled with the climate a bit of their first recreation. It’s not straightforward to play at 2 pm right here. Groups struggled even once they performed within the night, so you possibly can think about how troublesome it was for them.”
“So, we’re not going to guage them with the efficiency towards Equatorial Guinea.
“It’s not going to be a simple recreation for us. They’re a troublesome opponent and can make issues troublesome for us.”
Nigeria haven’t received any of their final 4 matches now after dropping to Guinea earlier than the event and drawing World Cup qualifiers with Lesotho and Zimbabwe, with stress mounting on coach Jose Peseiro.
After their objectives towards Guinea-Bissau, both Seko Fofana or Jean-Philippe Krasso might turn into the primary participant to attain in each of Cote d’Ivoire’s first two matches of an Afcon event since Gervinho and Yaya Toure did in 2013.
