Eagles look beyond Burkina Faso •We can’t lose against Nigeria, insists Burkinabes

Burkina-faso-AFCON squad2012

Nigeria and Burkina Faso are at daggers drawn as the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations enters Day 3 on Monday, reports ‘TANA AIYEJINA

Nigeria’s Super Eagles will begin their campaign at the South Africa 2013 Africa Cup of Nations with a tricky tie against the Stallions of Burkina Faso at the 40, 929-capacity Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit on Monday.

The Eagles are in Group C of the competition alongside champions Zambia, Ethiopia and the Burkinabes.

Nigeria dominate the group on paper but it is a very open group in reality. The Eagles are six-time AFCON finalists but have only won it twice. They have Chelsea stars Mikel Obi and Victor Moses in their 23-man squad as well as Fenerbahce defender, Joseph Yobo.

New Eagles eye win

Eagles’ media officer, Ben Alaiya, describes the Nigerian side as a “New team, (with) strong character needing the total backing of all Nigerians.”

On paper, two-time champions of the competition, Eagles are favoured to overcome their fellow West African foes but with the team parading a massive 17 players at the AFCON for the first time, the Burkinabes may just be looking to cash in on the inexperience of their more fancied opponents.

While coach Stephen Keshi has included six home-based players in his squad, the Stallions, managed by Belgian Paul Put, have no player from their domestic league in their line-up for Africa’s top football showpiece.

The  young Nigerian squad are raring to take the tournament by storm. In fact, the players are already looking ahead of tomorrow’s game against the Stallions.

Nigeria’s most capped player and team captain, Joseph Yobo alongside Vincent Enyeama, Mikel Obi and Ikechukwu Uche are expected to bring in their experience to bear on their younger teammates.

“You can’t predict a football match but we believe we can advance from our group,” Yobo, who will playing in his sixth AFCON, said.

Despite Dynamo Kiev forward, Brown Ideye’s ‘respect’ for the Burkinabes, he is focused on helping the Eagles fly past the Stallions into the knockout stages of the competition.

“Our first game is against Burkina Faso and we are looking forward to it with great expectations,” Ideye said.

“We will qualify from our group by God’s grace. We will respect them and get the job done through hardwork.”

With just a goal in seven appearances for the Eagles, Ideye wants to using the Stallions in asserting himself in the team.

“The aim of every striker is to score goals and that will be part of my aspiration when the Eagles begin the competition on Monday.  We all know how winning games is important to Nigeria, and as a team, we must get good results in the group stage to advance to the next round of the competition.”

AFCON preparations

Back home, fans have not been too impressed with the quality of the Eagles’ performances except probably staunch supporters of the team.

After below average performances in two friendly draws against Catalonia and fellow finalists, Cape Verde, which was met with heavy criticisms, fans were shocked to learn that the Eagles’ next two friendly games against Dutch side Rotterdam and Portugal’s Farense would be played behind closed doors.

It didn’t give the fans any further opportunity to assess the team but Sporting Braga left-back Elderson Echiejile tries to calm frayed nerves, saying, “We are aware fans back home are disappointed with our performance. We need to do more so that we can live up to expectations in South Africa.”

Bad news for Stallions

The Stallions camp was jolted just few days to the competition when doctors disclosed that injured Lorient forward, Alain Traore, would not be available against the Eagles.

He is the second player that has been ruled out of the match after Charles Kabore, whose cards accumulation during the qualifying series of the competition ruled him out of the Group C opening encounter.

The team’s woes increased when they dropped three places from 89 (December 2012) to 92 in the latest FIFA World Ranking released on Thursday. On the other hand, the Eagles retained their 52 position but moved up to ninth place in Africa.

Burkinabes hopeful

Nigeria has won the AFCON twice, reached the final four times and emerged third a record seven times while Burkina Faso’s best outing in the competition is reaching the last four on home soil in 1998.

While the Eagles failed to qualify for the last edition in 2012— the first time in 26 years—Burkina Faso, who qualified, finished bottom of their group following successive defeats to Angola, Ivory Coast and Sudan.

In fact, the Stallions have competed in eight of the last 10 tournaments but they have managed to get past the group stage only once, when they hosted the event 15 years ago and it was by the slimmest of margins.

But highly-rated Stade Rennes winger, Jonathan Pitroipa,  knows the consequence of losing a tournament’s first game.

The 26-year-old insists the Stallions will not leave the Mbombela Stadium with anything less than a draw.

Pitroipa was quoted as saying by SuperSport, “That game against Nigeria will be extremely important. If we want to qualify for the quarterfinals, we have to get something from that game; a draw or a win, but we cannot lose that game.

“It certainly won’t be an easy match as Nigeria is a top side full of quality players but we know what we have to do.”

Eagles set to flap wings

Media officer, Alaiya, believes the podium is set tomorrow for the Nigerians to begin their 2013 AFCON campaign on a bright note.

He said, “It’s time again for the Eagles to joyfully flap its wings in victory. Let’s line up behind Africa’s most consistent national team of all times.”

Eagles
Best outing: Winners (1980 & 1994)
FIFA ranking (Jan 2013): 52
Coach:
Stephen Keshi will be seeking to win the 2013 AFCON as a coach having won it as the Eagles captain in 1994. The man, who qualified Togo for their first World Cup appearance in 2006, will be leading a third country to AFCON after also leading Togo and Mali to the event in 2006 and 2010 respectively.
Key players:
Mikel Obi (Chelsea) Age: 25
Keshi will rely hugely on Mikel’s wealth of experience in midfield. The battling middle man has power and a strong heart; but he has to carry along his younger co-midfielders.
Joseph Yobo (Fenerbahce) Age: 32
Captain Yobo will be competing in his sixth AFCON after missing out at the last edition. Nigeria’s most-capped player has been on the international scene for 12 years and is a veteran when it comes to the AFCON. His no-nonsense style of defending will be familiar to Everton fans following a six-year spell at Goodison Park.
Victor Moses (Chelsea) Age: 22
Moses has been something of a talisman for Chelsea this season, popping up with goals when the team most needs them. His skill out on the wings will come in handy for Nigeria, but it’s his knack of being in the right place at the right time in the box that could make a real difference.
Stallions
Previous AFCON finals: 9
Best outing: Semi-final (1998)
FIFA ranking (Jan 2013): 92
Coach:
Belgian Paul Put was banned for life in his own country in 2007 for fixing matches involving his club Lierse with a Chinese betting syndicate. The 56-year-old took over as coach of Gambia in 2008 and signed a three-year deal with Burkina Faso last March.
Key players:
Alain Traore (Lorient) Age: 24
Scorer of the goal that secured qualification for Burkina Faso but he has missed the preparations in a race against time to overcome an adductor muscle injury, for which he received specialist treatment in France. The forward moved to Lorient in Ligue 1 last year after eight seasons with AJ Auxerre.
Jonathan Pitroipa (Stade Rennes). Age: 26
Pitroipa moved from Ouagadougou to Europe as a teenager to play in Germany, starting first at SC Freiburg and then moving to Hamburg. Rennes paid three million euros for him in 2011 and he has delivered 12 goals for them over the last 18 months.
Charles Kabore (Marseille). Age: 24
Utility player and the leading light in the Burkinabe side, who can be used at right back, in central defence and as a midfield anchor. He has a long-term contract at Marseille, where he was a championship winner in 2010, but is often the subject of transfer speculation concerning English and Italian clubs.