Equatorial Guinea, Juan Micha has said that facing the Super Eagles of Nigeria today in their first match of the AFCON tournament will not be an easy task.
The Super Eagles and Elephants will do battle at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium, Abidjan on Sunday January 14 at 15:00 (West African Time).
While the Super Eagles are seeking a fourth title in Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea have competed at the Africa Cup of Nations on four occasions and their best finish was fourth in 2015 whey they hosted it.
Nigeria have a host of talents including reigning African Footballer of the Year, Victor Osimhen while Emilio Nsue, who won the 2011 European U21 Championship with Spain, is arguably the poster boy of Equatoguinean football.
Micha is aware of the importance of not losing their opening AFCON match and name checked five teams that are contenders to win the tournament including the Super Eagles.
Speaking to Filgoal, Micha stated: “Facing Nigeria in the first match will not be easy. They have a strong team and have reached a high level of technical capabilities, so we will try to confront them with all our strength, and it is important that we start the first match without losing.”
On who will win the AFCON, he said: “I think it is difficult to predict because there are Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and also Senegal, the former champion, Egypt, and Morocco. So I will not predict who will be the champion, but we have to wait.”
The Super Eagles – who finished ninth at Cameroon 2021 – are making their 20th appearance in the finals, and they would be hoping to emulate their 1980, 1994 and 2013 feats.
For the Elephants, their last outing was in 2021 AFCON with awe-inspiring as they reached the quarter-final before they were shown the exit door by eventual winners, Senegal.
