Time, they say, heals all wounds. Do they?
Well, the draws for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2023 to be held in Cote d’Ivoire have been conducted and Nigeria emerged from pot A and has been drawn to play Sierra-Leone, Guinea Bissau and Sao Tome in the qualifiers kicking off in June.
Last February, Senegal won the very first African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in its history. The much-coveted trophy will be put back into play next June with the start of the qualifiers for the next AFCON which has also been slated for June 2023 in the West African nation of Cote d’Ivoire.
Nigeria MUST now put behind them the disappointment of not qualifying for the FIFA senior world cup in Qatar. The thoughts of it still flashes through one’s memory. It is going to get worse by the time the 32 countries all line up at the Mundial proper in November and for every time the Black Stars of Ghana are mentioned; it is going to be a difficult moment to deal with.
Nigeria has already paid the price for complacency. The general feeling was that we were going to roll over Ghana. A Ghana team that couldn’t defeat Comoros. A Ghana team that couldn’t make it out of their group at the same AFCON 2021 and a Black Stars team without inspirational skipper, André Ayew who was serving a two match ban. The Super Eagles were too relaxed while Ghana was busy plotting the graph. The Ghana teams were warriors in all ramifications. They won the battle and gained the war.
But it is time to look forward. The time is now and no other way to pacify the fans than to go through these qualifiers unscathed and even daring to win the AFCON proper come June next year. Why not? The last time we won it was 2013. That would be 10 years by 2023.
The AFCON 2023 Draws
The draws for the 12 qualifying groups for the Coted’Ivoire 2023 AFCON took place a week ago in South Africa and the Lions of Teranga from Senegal, the defending champions, were placed into group L with Benin Republic, Rwanda and Mozambique.
Hosts Côte d’Ivoire were placed in group H. The Elephants will approach this qualifying campaign with less pressure since they are already assured of participating in this competition on home soil.
The Ivorians are groupies with Zambia, Comoros and Lesotho. Only one team will qualify from this group, alongside the hosts.
Comoros, who were one of the surprise packages at the delayed 2021 showpiece in Cameroon, are seeking for a second consecutive qualification.
The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon will be able to prepare for their participation in the Qatari World Cup with matches against the Harambee Stars of Kenya, Namibia and Burundi.
Losing finalists from the 2021 showpiece, Egypt have meanwhile been drawn in Pool D and Mohamed Salah will fancy another battle against club teammate Naby Keita as they have been drawn with Guinea, Malawi and Ethiopia.
There will be several derbies as well with East African rivals Uganda and Tanzania drawn together again, and they will face off in Group F together with 2019 champions Algeria and Niger.
Uganda and Tanzania faced off in the qualifiers for the 2019 showpiece where they drew 0-0 in the first leg in Kampala and Tanzania winning 3-0 in Dar es Salaam.
Tanzania also faced Algeria at the subsequent tournament in Egypt, where they suffered a 3-0 defeat.
Morocco, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Liberia make up a tricky Group K.
Nigeria Group Rivals
The Super Eagles will have to battle with Sierra-Leone, Guinea-Bissau and Sao Tome to book a place at the AFCON from group A. It is a tricky Group which deceptively looks easy on paper but a tough time awaits Nigeria as no team is a pushover anymore, particularly in Africa.
Sierra-Leone
The English speaking West African country qualified for the 2021 AFCON from the same group with Nigeria the last time.
Nigeria squandered a four-goal advantage at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City to delay their qualification for the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations as Sierra Leone made a spirited fight back to tie the game 4-4 in the first of the two matches involving both nations and there was nothing to separate both nations in the return as they battled to a 0-0 score line in Freetown.
This is perhaps the opportunity for both nations to settle scores once and for all.
Guinea Bissau
The Portuguese speaking West African country was also at the last AFCON in Cameroun. As a matter of fact, they were also in the same group with Nigeria but they lost to the superior fire power of the Super Eagles 0-2 in Garoua courtesy of goals from Sadiq Umar and William Troost-Ekong.
Guinea-Bissau have a strange record of failing to score in their last seven AFCON matches spanning three finals, the first time a side has gone so long without a goal. They are also waiting for their first-ever win.
Sao Tome
Yet another Portuguese speaking Central African nation. They are the dark horses of the group but on top of it, there is a pending issue from their previous qualification round.
Mauritius have a pending protest against São Tomé and Príncipe, who won their preliminary qualifying fixture, insisting that one São Tomé player had tested positive for covid-19. São Tomé & Príncipe continue to dispute this assertion.
“The matter became somewhat more interesting because the player at the centre of the controversy is the one that scored the only goal of the match,” it was revealed.
What this means is that after hosting Sierra Leone in Nigeria, the Super Eagles would have to fly to either São Tomé or Port Louis for their Matchday 2 encounter. The window for these two matches is 30th May – 14th June.
We wish the Super Eagles of Nigeria the very best of luck ahead as they take on the rest of Africa.
Follow the writer on Twitter and Instagram @woleopatola
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