Preview: Nigeria vs. Guinea-Bissau
Two teams who have made fine starts to their respective Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaigns face off on Friday when Nigeria entertain the challenge of Guinea-Bissau.
The hosts have claimed maximum points from their opening two qualifiers, while the visitors remain unbeaten heading into the clash at Abuja National Stadium.
Off the back of a 2-1 victory against Sierra Leone to get their qualification journey underway, Nigeria strolled to an impressive 10-0 victory against Sao Tome and Principe on June 13.
Victor Osimhen was the star of the show for Jose Peseiro’s men as he netted four times and set up further strikes for Moses Simon and Terem Moffi, who were joined on the scoresheet by Peter Etebo, Ademola Lookman and Emmanuel Dennis.
However, the Super Eagles have been beaten in each of their subsequent three outings, which luckily for them have all been largely inconsequential friendlies.
They will now seek to return to winning ways against an opposing outfit who suffered a 2-0 defeat in the only previous edition of this fixture back in the 2022 AFCON.
Currently unbeaten on home turf since 2021, Friday’s hosts will be looking to put on a dominant display in front of what is set to be an expectant home crowd.
Guinea-Bissau were denied the opportunity to maintain their perfect AFCON qualifying record following a 2-2 stalemate against Sierra Leone at the General Lansana Conte Stadium in June.
After storming to a two-goal lead courtesy of Jorginho’s brace, Baciro Cande’s looked to be on course for a huge win before late goals from Augustus Kargbo and Musa Kamara forced a share of the spoils.
With four points from their opening two matches, Djurtus sit second in Group A, two points adrift of this weekend’s opponents ahead of the contest in the Nigerian capital.
Having fared poorly on their recent travels, Friday’s visitors are faced with yet another daunting task on the road where they have won just one of their last nine matches across all competitions.
Nigeria Africa Cup of Nations Qualifying form:
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Nigeria form (all competitions):
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Guinea-Bissau Africa Cup of Nations Qualifying form:
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Guinea-Bissau form (all competitions):
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We say: Nigeria 3-1 Guinea-Bissau
Nigeria ended 2022 on a poor run of results but their first outing of 2023 provides a good chance to get themselves back on track. We expect the home side to see off the threat of their visitors in comfortable fashion at the end of the 90 minutes.