Overview
After missing the 2026 World Cup, Super Eagles have a chance to redeem themselves at the AFCON taking place in Morocco.
Eric Chelle's team sent a signal to compete for the championship with a streak of 3 wins in the group stage, scoring 8 goals and conceding four times. Nigeria's outstanding strength lies in the depth of the squad, shown by their significant rotation but still winning 3-1 against Uganda in the most recent match.
The runner-up in 2023 soon affirmed the position of the most attacking team in the tournament. When the key players are likely to return to the starting lineup, the upcoming opponent will face great pressure from Nigeria's firepower.
Head-to-head history also leans towards Nigeria, with 4 wins in the last five encounters, the remaining match ended 0-0 in March 2009.
After the 1-3 defeat to host Ivory Coast in the AFCON 2023 final, the West African representative can take that as motivation to once again go deep and aim for the title. However, Nigeria still reveals weaknesses in defense, shown by not keeping a clean sheet in all 3 recent matches.
Meanwhile, Mozambique participated in the knockout round of the African No. 1 league for the first time. They did not have an impressive group stage campaign, only winning one match against Gabon, but that was enough to get through the group stage.
After winning their first victory in history at AFCON, Chiquinho Conde's team aims for the next milestone in the journey to find their second title in the history of the tournament and a ticket to the quarterfinals.
However, the statistics of 4 draws and 13 defeats in the history of participating in the tournament are hard to ignore. Facing Nigeria's powerful attack, Mozambique is predicted to experience a particularly hard working day.
Personnel situation
Recently, Eric Chelle admitted that he faced many difficulties in choosing the starting lineup, as Nigeria's personnel quality is very high.
Although Victor Osimhen scored in the match against Tunisia, the Galatasaray striker has not yet shown his form. However, he is still expected to start. Ademola Lookman and Akor Adams are likely to return to the starting lineup in attack after missing the match against Uganda.
In the lower line, the familiar quartet including Bruno Onyemaechi, Semi Ajayi, Calvin Bassey and Bright Osayi-Samuel are predicted to reappear in the main squad. In terms of force, Cyriel Dessers - who has not played for a minute - and Ryan Alebiosu, the player who just made his debut against Uganda, will be absent due to injury.
On the Mozambican side, Diogo Calila and Nene are also unable to participate due to injury.
Expected lineup:
Nwabili, Onyemaechi, Ajayi, Bassey, Osayi-Samuel, Ndidi, Iwobi, Chukwueze, Adams, Lookman, Osimhen.
Urrubal, Nanani, Dove, Chamboco, Mexer, Kambala, Bonde, Dominguez, Catamo, Gildo, Ratifo.
The match between Nigeria and Mozambique takes place at 2:00 AM on January 6 (Vietnam time).
