Africa Champions, the Super Eagles of Nigeria will today attempt to redeem their image when they file out against the Bafana Bafana of South Africa in Match Day 2 of the AFCON 2015 qualifying tie in Cape Town.
The Stephen Keshi-led team who shockingly lost to the Red Devils of Congo last weekend in Calabar are desperate to put their qualification back on track with a win over their hosts, South Africa today.
A win will put the Eagles at par with the South Africans who pulled an away win over Sudan. The three-time Africa Champions will also hope Sudanese stops Congo who are so far the giants killers in the group.
In six matches, Bafana Bafana have never beaten the Super Eagles in the Cup of Nations or in the World Cup, but the South Africans are confident of doing it this time.
South Africa head into the game on the back of a thrilling 3-0 thrashing of Sudan in Khartoum on Friday. Sibusiso Vilakazi scored a stunning brace to send Bafana on their way and coach Shakes Mashaba will be hoping for more of the same from his young squad.
Bafana were able to draw plenty of positives from their tough encounter in the Sudanese capital and the test against Nigeria will be a great way for the 64-year-old coach to pit himself against the defending AFCON champions.
This could also be the best opportunity South Africa have had in years to beat the team from west Africa. Nigeria go into battle having suffered a shock 3-2 defeat to Congo-Brazzaville on Saturday, as the Super Eagles began their defence of their continental crown off on the wrong foot.
Nigeria have won five and drawn one of six matches against South Africa in the AFCON tournament, as well as the World Cup. Incredibly, Bafana have never even managed a single goal against Nigeria and today’s clash will prove another tense affair, according to Mashaba.
“What we saw in the game against Congo, we’ll not be deceived, they’ll come out spitting fire, they’ll want to reverse everything that Congo did to them. The result of the Nigeria/Congo game is not going to determine our way forward,” the coach said before the game.
Nigeria coach, Stephen Keshi, meanwhile, came out firing after his team’s loss to Congo and has already targeted a dominant win against South Africa, who he has enjoyed playing against in the past.
“I was more upset by the way we played than the result. We scored first and thought it would be easy,” Keshi said.
“Even when we fell two goals behind, there were enough scoring chances to draw at least. Now we must go to South Africa and win.”