Super Eagles of Nigeria’s B team are eager to emulate the success of the Super Falcons and the national women’s basketball team at the 2024 African Nations Championship, Junior Nduka said.
The country’s women’s football team clinched a record-extending 10th African title at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, defeating hosts Morocco in a thrilling final.
Most recently, D’Tigress won the Women’s AfroBasket, becoming the first African team to claim the title five consecutive times.
As the Super Eagles kick off their CHAN campaign against Senegal on Tuesday evening, the defender says the team is eager to build on the country’s recent sporting momentum.
“To our fellow Nigerians, I know the expectations are high because we have been doing well in sports, and we will try our best not to let them down,” Nduka told the media in Zanzibar.
“Our female team has just won the WAFCON, and our women’s team just won the basketball title. It’s a good record for the country, and we hope to consolidate on that.”
The Super Eagles are back at the CHAN finals for the first time since 2018, after missing the last two editions. They will kick off their quest for glory with a tough opener against defending champions, the Lions of Teranga.
Regarding their opening game record, the Super Eagles have played three matches: winning one, drawing one, and losing one.
Interestingly, in the two tournaments where they did not win their opener (2014 and 2018), they still advanced to at least the semi-finals. The only time they won their opening match – a 4-1 win over Niger Republic in 2016 – they did not make it past the group stage.
Coach Eric Chelle understands that the Super Eagles cannot afford to slip up against Senegal, but insists they will focus on taking each game one step at a time.
“I don’t wanna talk about Congo or Sudan for now,” the Malian tactician said.
“Our focus is on our first match on Tuesday, we wanna take each game as it comes and take it step by step. Now we face Senegal before we can talk about Congo and Sudan.
“I don’t think it’s a derby (against Senegal), but this is a game between two big countries in Africa. They have a history in football.
“Senegal have a good generation and a good team, and our preparation for this game has been good, and we will look to implement everything we have prepared into this match.”
Nigeria finished third in 2014 and were runners-up in 2018, where they fell 4-0 to Morocco in the final. Throughout the competition’s history, they have recorded all their wins in open play.
Impressively, they have scored in 11 of their 15 CHAN matches, netting a total of 25 goals while conceding 17.
