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Super Eagles, Give Us This Day
THIS will be one of my shortest diary entries since I arrived in Morocco for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations 23 days ago. I am writing at 3 O’Clock in the morning of Saturday, 10 January, 2026, about 14 hours to the kickoff of Nigeria’s semifinal clash with our eternal rivals, Algeria. All that I want to say is “Super Eagles, Give Us This Day.”
Yesterday (Friday, January the 9th), two of my Mr.ChefNigeria predictions hit bullseye again, the second and third time in this tournament. Here in this diary a few days ago, I tipped Senegal to beat Mali, and Morocco to beat Cameroun in the first two quarterfinal matches. Both have come to pass. Also, I tipped Nigeria to beat Algeria, and Egypt to beat Côte d’Ivoire in the other two quarterfinals. I’m waiting for these to come to pass as well.
“Two out of four already on point,” wrote one of my regular diary followers, my brother-in-law Ganiyu Azeez, about my predictions in a Whatsapp message to me. “I pray Nigeria joins the queue tomorrow (Saturday) in sha Allah. Well done, sir.”
“Amen,” I replied. Super Eagles, Give Us This Day.
Earlier yesterday (Friday), another reader had responded to my preview of the game by pointing out an error in my subtitle. I had written “From Fez to Marrakech: Super Eagles Touch Down Ahead of Semi-final Clash” instead of ‘Quarterfinal’. Rather than just point out the mistake, the reader (he’s probably also reading this) wrote: “As the Oracle has prophesied, we accept this and CONFIRM that we are already in the semifinal…”
It’s me the reader refers to as “the Oracle.” I also accept it as long as the Super Eagles give us this day.
Super Eagles winger Moses Simon said exactly the things that I wanted to hear at the pre-match conference held at the Grand Marrakech stadium, mid-day on Friday. When the CAF media officer, Ahmed from Uganda, posted the first question to Coach Eric Chelle and Simon about the Super Eagles readiness for the game, the player was emphatic: “Of course, it’s (going to be) a big game against a big opponent. We (the players) are all motivated and, of course, WE WANT TO WIN!” (emphasis mine).
When, further in the course of the presser, a journalist pointed out to Moses that North African teams had always given Nigeria a lot of trouble in African football, Moses agreed but added: “Yes, they always give us trouble, but we also give them trouble. We beat Tunisia already (in this tournament) and they are one of the best teams in Africa.” I loved that.
When someone else asked if Moses wanted revenge, having been a member of the Eagles that lost narrowly to Algeria in the 2019 AFCON semifinal in Egypt, Moses said: “We are not coming for a revenge. It’s not in our mindset. We just want to play. We are a team that works hard everyday to progress, AND TO WIN! (emphasis mine again).
Finally, when Moses was asked if the other players are jealous of Victor Osimhen and Ademola “Dangerous” Lookman who appear to be enjoying all the attention from the media, Moses said: “We are a team. We don’t mind if people talk more about Victor and Lookman. For me, I will say yes, we play for them to score for us. They were the African Footballers of the Year the last two years (2023 and 2024), so they deserve the attention. But inside our team, we don’t talk about who is the best. WE JUST WANT TO WIN! (emphasis mine, yet again).
Moses exuded confidence throughout the press conference. I got the impression from his “win, win, win” responses that he and his colleagues are really fired up for the match. Indeed, they must be to stand any chance of beating one of Nigeria’s eternal rivals in African and world football.
Coach Eric Chelle confirmed that the boys are rearing to go. “I am highly focused on this game,” he said. “I am highly motivated and I try to pass my motivation to the players, but they are motivated already. Our state of mind is good, we are ready physically, mentally and, tactically, I have to make some choices. We are very ready for this game.”
Algeria’s press conference, about 30 minutes after Nigeria’s, was very lively for us Nigerian journalists because Algeria’s captain, Riyad Mahrez, was gracious to respond to some questions in English language. Our experience with some coaches and players at this tournament was that, even when they could speak English (Mozambique on my mind), they decided to respond to questions in the language more favourable to journalists from their own countries. Fair enough. Mahrez could also have stuck to Arabic or French which are commonly spoken in Algeria, but the former Manchester City player made our day, especially as Algeria’s Bosnian coach, Vladimir Petkovic, spoke in French throughout.
“For me and my team, it’s always good to play against big teams like Nigeria,” Mahrez said. “I know a lot about the football history and the rivalry between our countries and I was fortunate to score the winning goal in 2019 when we met last in the AFCON semifinals. This game tomorrow (Saturday) could go either way. It will be a close game between two very good teams. Offensively, I will say this Nigerian team is better than the 2019 team. We have to be at our best to win and proceed in this tournament.” Excellent response from an excellent player.
Later in the day after the two press conferences, I joined a battery of journalists, majority of them from Algeria and Nigeria, to cover the training sessions by both teams at the practice pitch of the stadium, Algeria at 2.00pm and Nigeria at 5.00pm. Center-back Semi Ajayi, right back Bright Osayi-Samuel and midfielder Frank Onyeka spoke to the media at Nigeria’s mixed zone, while Algeria’s goalkeeper Luca Zidane (son of the famous Zinedine Zidane), Ramirez Zerruoki and Ibrahim Maza took the floor for the Algerians. All the players expressed the desire to win and progress to the semifinals.
On the way back from the stadium, we (me and my team; you know them by now, don’t you?) ran into a heavy traffic in the Marrakech boulevards that reminded me of Lagos. We never experienced such gridlocks throughout our stay in Fez but Marrakech was turning out to be a different kettle of fish. By the time we reached our apartment, Senegal had already beaten 10-man Mali 1-0 in Tanger (Iliman Ndiaye the goal scorer in the 27th minute), while Morocco’s showdown with Cameroun in Rabat was only half-an-hour away. We joined some Moroccans at a restaurant for dinner and watched on television how Ibrahim Diaz (in the 26th minute) and Ismael Saibari (74th minute) grabbed the goals that gave the Atlas Lions their first ever win against the Indomitable Lions after many episodes of heartbreaks.
Morocco were the better side and fully deserved their victory. They imposed themselves from the start and didn’t give Cameroun any breathing space, particularly in the first half which they dominated completely. Second half was a bit balanced, but the second goal settled Moroccan serves.
It is fair to note that Cameroun derived no joy from the Mauritanian center referee, Dahane Beida, who was drafted in late to handle the match as a replacement for Egypt’s Amin Mohammed Omar, following Morocco’s rejection of the Egyptian. Every borderline decision went against Cameroun and the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) surprisingly did not intervene on a single occasion. I had no sympathy for Cameroun, though, considering the pains that they have inflicted on Nigeria’s psyche in AFCON history. But Omar’s dropping and Beida’s poor performance speaks to the pressure that the host country is able to exert on CAF and its officials at this tournament. Some commentators on social media derisively picked referee Beida as the Man-of-the-Match!
At the final whistle, Moroccans poured into the brightly lighted streets of Marrakech to celebrate. People were hugging each other and drivers were honking the horns of their vehicles deep into the night. When we arrived back at our apartment, Abdulazeez the security guard was equally ecstatic. He told us that now that Morocco had won against Cameroun, it was Nigeria’s turn to win against Algeria. Then, he added a stern warning: “If you don’t beat Algeria for us tomorrow, I will not allow you into this building!
Super Eagles, did you hear that?! Please Give Us This Day!!
CHELLE SHUTS THE DOOR
*EXPECTEDLY, questions about Nigeria’s bonus controversy came up at the Super Eagles press conference, especially with stories making the rounds that team captain Wilfred Ndidi had reportedly offered to clear the bonuses for players and officials if the government did not pay up as promised. But Coach Eric Chelle shut the door against that conversation. “My only responsibility is what happens on the pitch and I am focused on that. Anything happening outside the pitch, you have to direct the question to the (Nigeria Football) Federation,” he said.
“I am fully concentrated. I don’t know what else is going on outside the pitch. I don’t even read the social media. I am ambitious and my players are ambitious. To win this game against Algeria, we have to remain focused. Algeria play good football that I like…very technical with a lot of movements. But we have to find their weakness and exploit it. It is my job to find the best formation for my team to win the game. Our mindset is very important.”
End of discussion.
*Match Schedule, Saturday, 10 January, 2025.
Match 47: Algeria vs Nigeria in Marrakech at 5.00pm
Match 48: Egypt vs Côte d’Ivoire in Agadir at 8.00pm
*Mr.ChefNigeria Predictions.
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