All invited players are now in the camp of the Super Eagles of Nigeria in Lagos as the countdown begins for Sunday’s 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying showdown with the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone, at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Stadium in Paynesville, Monrovia.
Table-toppers Nigeria are on nine (9) points, while the Leone Stars are four points behind and in third place. The 22,000-capacity arena will witness fireworks from 5pm Nigeria time (4pm Liberia time), as the Super Eagles seek to reach the finals of the 34th AFCON, scheduled for Ivory Coast early next year, with a game to spare.
The Super Eagles have been in a training camp, located at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos State, Nigeria.
For the last edition of Africa’s flagship football championship, the Super Eagles qualified for the finals with a game to spare after Paul Onuachu secured Nigeria’s passage with a header to beat Benin Republic’s Guepards in Porto Novo.
Three-time champions, Nigeria, will fire from all cylinders at the Paynesville, conscious that second-placed Guinea Bissau who two points behind, are likely to inflict defeat on Sao Tome and Principe in the other match of Group A.
In the last weeks of 2020, the Leone Stars famously came from 4-1 down to draw 4-4 with the Super Eagles at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City in another Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match (Cameroon 2021) and few days later, held the Eagles to a barren draw at the Siaka Stevens Stadium in Freetown.
When both teams clashed on Day 1 of the ongoing series at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja a year ago, the Leone Stars drew the first blood before goals by Alex Iwobi and Victor Osimhen put Nigeria in the driving seat.
The Eagles flew to Agadir, Morocco some days later to inflict a 10-0 defeat on Sao Tome and Principe, in the event setting a new international win-record.
The Confederation of African Football has appointed Sudanese official Mahmood Ali Ismail as the referee for the Sunday’s encounter, with his compatriot Mohammed Abdallah Ibrahim as assistant referee 1.
Liban Abdourazak Ahmed from Djibouti will serve as assistant referee 2, with Mohamed Diraneh Guedi, also from Djibouti, in the role of fourth official. Gambian Bakary Jammeh will be the commissioner, while Kokou Djaoupe from Togo will serve as referee assessor.
