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“THE tournament starts now. Whatever we did during the group phase is behind us. Our focus now is on this next game against Mozambique. We want to win and go on to the quarterfinal. The tournament starts now.”
Those were the words of Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle at the pre-match conference for the Round of 16 tie between Nigeria and Mozambique at the Complexe Sportif de Fez on Monday, 5 January, 2026. Chelle is right. The first round matches of the AFCON are like preparatory matches. Whatever happens, every team is guaranteed to play three games in the groups phase. It’s the knockout phase that really separates the boys from the men because, if you lose here, you go home. This, indeed, is where the real tournament begins!
Nigeria has a good record of negotiating this Round of 16 phase at the AFCON. Foremost football historian and statistician, Kunle Solaja of SportsVillageSquare.com analyzed the stats to show that in 21 previous appearances at the AFCON, the Super Eagles have reached at least the quarterfinals on a record 18 occasions. They are the overwhelming favourites to make that figure 19 when they face the underdogs from Mozambique in Fez. But team captain Wilfred Ndidi says he and his colleagues are not taking anything for granted.
“We are not going to underrate any team that we meet,” he said at the presser. “Mozambique are a very good team, they fight a lot. In fact, every team that has qualified for this AFCON has the capacity to win the trophy. But we are focused on ourselves and we are confident. The spirit in the camp in high and everyone is ready for this game.”
The words of Chelle and Ndidi summarize the calm but confident mood in the Eagles camp as they face the Mambas of Mozambique. The last time that Nigeria stumbled at this stage of the AFCON was in Garoua, Cameroun in 2021. After sweeping through the group stage with three straight wins as they have done here at Morocco 2025, they came unstuck against a fragile Tunisian team that surprisingly knocked them out. Chelle was not in charge of the team then, but Ndidi was a member.
“Yeah, we remember what happened in 2021 and we took lessons from it,” says the skipper. “Since the beginning of this year’s competition, we have been on red alert. Our focus on this match (against Mozambique) is not different. We go into the game with our plan and our preparation. Hopefully, we will win.”
Thankfully, Coach Chelle has overcome the “good headache” that he said he had after his team’s last group game against Uganda. Following an impressive performance by many reserve players in the match that Nigeria won 3-1, Chelle had said he might have a challenge picking his team for this next game against Mozambique. He appears to have solved his dilemma.
“I focus on my last training to pick my team,” he said. “Yes, many of the players did well in the previous matches, but that is in the past. Now, I have to look at their current form at the training ground for the team selection, so you have to wait again to see the selection against Mozambique tomorrow (Monday, match day).
“Normally, I would love my team to score lots of goals and not concede any goals. I would also love to have 80 percent ball possession in every game. But you can’t have all that you want all the time in a football game, so you have analyze the opponents and come up with a plan and a philosophy that is good to win the game. Mozambique are a good team. They have many strengths, just like us, and they have many weaknesses, just like us. I hope that we are able to play to our strength and exploit their weaknesses to win the game.”
Chelle and Ndidi’s pragmatism and humility at the press conference were matched by Mozambique Coach Chiquinho Conde and his captain, Dominguez when the South East Africans took their turn to take questions from journalists. Both men were generous with praise for the Nigerian team, but expressed the hope that they could pull off an upset.
“Everybody keeps asking me how we plan to stop (Victor) Osimhen and (Ademola) Lookman, but the Nigerian team is more than these players,” Conde said. “They are a strong team with quality players in every position, so we cannot focus on Osimhen and Lookman alone. We are preparing for the whole team.
“It’s all about organization,” Conde continued. “Nigeria is a big team, so it’s an opportunity for us to win against a big team. We have observed them the way we observed other teams. My principle is to show character, defend well and attack better. We have fantastic players who can decide a match at any time. We have an ambition to make history for our people and our country.”
Conde’s confident words were amplified by his captain, Dominguez. “We respect Nigeria but we don’t fear them,” he said. “We are a smaller team compared to them, but we will play with an objective to win. Anything is possible in football.”
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*MOZAMBIQUE Coach Chiquinho Conde was a former international who played at three AFCONS for his country (1986, 1996 and 1998). He then led them to the 2023 tournament for the first time as the national coach.
Conde was a former teammate of Nigeria’s Rashidi Yekini during their playing careers at Vitoria Setubal of Portugal in the early to mid 1990s. Both were strikers and they scored a hatful of goals. While Yekini scored 94 goals in 128 games during two stints at the club (1990-94 and 1997), Conde grabbed 61 goals in 153 games during three stints (1992-94; 1996-97; 1998-2000). Conde was Vitoria Setubal’s under-20 team coach before he was appointed national coach of Mozambique in 2021.
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*A CASH reward of 500,000 Mozambican Meticals (about $7,824) awaits each player if they can beat Nigeria and qualify fir the quarterfinals. The bonus was announced by the country’s President, Daniel Chapo. The Mozambican FA has also promised a bonus of $23,000 for each player should they win the AFCON. Ahead of the tournament, each player received an allowance of $4,000. Super Eagles’ bonus structure for the AFCON is a closely guided secret and open to speculation.
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*SUPER Eagles Coach Eric Chelle has been on the receiving end of scathing criticism in the social media for “restricting media access” to the players. The coach explained at the media conference on Sunday that he had met and even surpassed mandatory CAF requirements for media access. He pleaded for understanding from the Nigerian press corps so that his team could concentrate in their preparations.
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*HOST country Morocco and five time winners Cameroun booked their places in the AFCON quarterfinals on Sunday. Morocco defeated hard-fighting Tanzania 1-0 in Rabat via a goal by Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz in the 64th minute. The match ended in controversy following the referee’s failure to award a penalty to Tanzania for a push in the Moroccan goal area deep into added time. Nevertheless, the result was an improvement for Tanzania. When both teams met at the 2023 AFCON in Côte d’Ivoire, the Taifa Stars lost by three goals to nil.
Cameroun beat South Africa 2-1 also in Rabat in driving rain to set up a quarterfinal clash with Morocco. The Indomitable Lions established a two-goal lead with strikes from Stoke City’s Junior Tchamadeu in the 34th minute, and Bayer Leverkusen’s Christian Kofane two minutes into the second half. Banana Bafana set up a grandstand finish when Evidence Makgopa scored in the 88th minute, but they couldn’t find an equalizer. South Africa’s Belgian coach Hugo Broos who led Cameroun to win the 2017 AFCON could not defeat his former employers despite boasting before the match that he would show them “no mercy.”
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*I PREDICTED in my diary yesterday that, by the time you would read my report that I wrote immediately after the Tunisia-Mali game which Mali won 3-2 on penalties, Tunisia’s coach Sami Trabelsi “might have been sacked.”
I was right! Before daybreak after the game, Trabelsi was fired by the Tunisian FA for an unimpressive performance at the AFCON. The search is on for who will lead the Carthage Eagles to the FIFA World Cup finals in Canada/Mexico/USA in June.
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Mr.ChefNigeria Super Eagles Likely XI (4-3-3): Stanley Nwabali, Bright Osayi-Samuel, Simi Ajayi, Calvin Bassey, Bruno Onyemaechi, Wilfred Ndidi (captain), Frank Onyeka, Alex Iwobi, Ademola Lookman, Akor Adams, Victor Osimhen.
Nigeria vs Mozambique in History:
17 August 1999: Mozambique 0-1 Nigeria (International Friendly: Maputo).
29 March 2009: Mozambique 0-0 Nigeria (World Cup qualifier, Maputo).
11 October 2009: Nigeria 1-0 Mozambique (World Cup qualifier, Abuja)
20 January, 2010: Mozambique 0-3 Nigeria (AFCON: Lubango, Angola)
16 October 2023: Mozambique 2-3 Nigeria (International Friendly, Lisbon).
Summary: Nigeria 4 wins, Mozambique 0 win, 1 draw.
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