Nigeria vs. Sierra Leone
Venue: Moshood Abiola Stadium
Kick-Off: 5 PM
Nigeria and Sierra Leone will get the ball rolling in Group A of the Africa Cup of Nations when they go head to head at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja this evening behind closed doors following a stadium by the Confederation of African Football.
CAF slammed a one-game ban on Nigeria following crowd trouble in their final World Cup qualifying game against Ghana.
The Super Eagles, who are gunning for a third consecutive appearance at the continental showpiece, are currently on a five-game winless run and will look to end this dry spell.
Sierra Leone were last in action on March 29 when they claimed a 2-1 victory over Congo in a friendly fixture at the Mardan Sports Complex.
Tottenham teenager Kallum Cesay turned in a performance of the highest quality as he scored twice in the second half to put the Leone Stars ahead before Vieljeux Prestige Mboungou pulled one back from the penalty spot in the 89th minute.
Prior to that, John Keister’s men saw their three-game winless run come to an end when they secured a slender 1-0 win away to Liberia on March 27.
While Sierra Leone will look to pick up a third consecutive victory and get their AFCON qualifier campaign off to a flyer, next up is the challenge of taking on an opposing side who are unbeaten in each of the last five meetings between the teams, claiming three wins and two draws since a 1-0 loss in 2001.
Nigeria, on the other hand, failed to find their feet last Friday as they fell to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Ecuador when the sides squared off in a friendly fixture.
Villarreal full-back Pervis Estupinan struck the only goal of the game inside the opening three minutes to hand Gustavo Alfaro’s side a slender victory at the Red Bull Arena.
This followed a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Mexico on May 25, when Cyriel Dessers cancelled out Santiago Gimenez’s first-half opener, before William Troost-Ekong scored an own goal to hand El Tri the victory.
Nigeria have now failed to taste victory in each of their most recent five games across all competitions, picking up two draws and losing three since claiming three consecutive wins in Group D of the 2022 AFCON back in January.
The Super Eagles, who are aiming for a third consecutive Africa Cup of Nations appearance, are unbeaten in each of their last six qualifying games, claiming four wins and two draws in that time.
Nigeria possible XI: Uzoho, Aina, Troost-Ekong, Ajayi, Sanusi, Aribo, Etebo, Lookman, Iwobi, Simon, Osimhen.
Sierra Leone possible XI: Kamara, Kakay, Sesay, Caulker, Wright, Conteh, Cesay, Quee, Turay, Kamara, Kaikai.
