Eguavoen says Eagles are now favourites to win Nations Cup after qualifying for second round

INTERIM Super Eagles head coach Augustine Eguavoen has said he believes that Nigeria are now firm favourites to win the ongoing African Cup of Nations after his team's qualification for the second round with a 3-1 victory over Sudan yesterday.

 

In a very one-sided match in Garoua yesterday, the Eagles took a 3-0 lead against Sudan before conceding a needless late penalty. After a1-0 victory over Egypt in their opening game, the Eagles have not only qualified for the knock-out stage but are guaranteed to emerge as Group D winners.

 

Before Nigeria's opening match, nobody gave the Super Eagles a prayer of winning the tournament but with that victory, the team suddenly became one of the favourites to win the tournament. Egypt had been rated above Nigeria's before the two teams met in their opening game but are now being written off after the Pharaoh's lacklustre performance so far in the tournament.

 

Other favourites have also laboured in the tournament too, with defending champions Algeria and the silver medallists from two years ago Senegal, also unimpressive so far.  After Nigeria's victory over Egypt, the odds from betting company Paddy Power had Senegal's Lions of Teranga as 3/1 favourites to lift the trophy ahead of second favourites Algeria who were 9/2.

 

As of at last week, Nigeria's Super Eagles were priced at 6/1 as third favourites, while host nation Cameroon were 7/1 and Ivory Coast were 8/1. However, with Nigeria now showing some consistency, Mr Eguavoen said the Super Eagles are now the favourites to win the tournament after qualifying for the last 16.

 

The Super Eagles had been written off going into the tournament after they fired their ex-coach, Gernot Rohr, just a month before the start of the competition.

 

Nigeria's preparations for the tournament were far from ideal, with several players like Victor Osimhen, Emmanuel Dennis, Leon Balogun, Odion Ighalo and Abdullahi Shehu pulling out of the squad at the last minute. Mr Eguavoen said Nigeria is now happy to accept the burden of favourites, adding that the Super Eagles objective is to win a fourth African Cup of Nations title on February 6.

 

He added: “Yes, many people have talked about Nigeria being favourites, so I claim it. It’s not about saying game per game now, so we claim it because there is power in the tongue."

 

Nigeria will continue her quest for the trophy with the Super eagles playing their final group game against Guinea-Bissau on Wednesday. Yesterday, Egypt managed a controversial 1-0 win  over Guinea-Bissau to put themselves second in the group.

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