AFCON 2023 Preview: Elephants, Eagles To Battle For Top Two In Group A

Nigeria and Ivory Coast are considered bookmakers’ choices to qualify from Group A. But there could be an upset.

The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire is only few days away and the excitement is already at a feverish level.

The host country, Cote d’Ivoire will play the opening match of the tournament at 9pm West African time on Saturday night.

Egypt, Senegal, Morocco, Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria are considered the likely teams to win the tournament.

Prime Business Africa‘s Izuchukwu Okosi today begins a preview of the six groups in the AFCON 2023 starting from Group A where the Super Eagles will face hosts Cote d’ Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau.

Group A

Teams: Cote d’ Ivoire, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea Bissau

Cote d’ Ivoire, or Ivory Coast, as they are also called especially by people outside Africa, the Elephants are the hosts of the tournament for the second time after their first in 1984.

The Ivorians were widely tipped by many football faithful to at least play in the final of the 2021 AFCON held in Cameroon but they were eliminated in the quarterfinals.

Nigeria are three-time African champions of the continent after lifting the Africa Cup of Nations – in 1980, 1994 and 2013.

However, most Nigerians are of the opinion that the Eagles would have won the tournament in 1996 had the military government of General Sani Abacha not let diplomatic tension between Nigeria and South Africa get in the way of football because the team still boosted of the core players that won the previous edition in Tunisia.

Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire are the overriding favourites to qualify from Group A due to their pedigree in African football and the quality of their present players abroad.

Sadly, Nigeria will be without the influential duo of Wilfred Ndidi and Victor Boniface due to injuries and have been replaced by Royal Antwerp midfielder Alhasan Yusuf Lorient striker Terem Moffi.

The Ivorians will not be without trickery Galatasaray forward Wilfried Zaha not due to unity but whom the manager shockingly elected not to select for the tournament.

The former Crystal Palace flying winger is seen as a divisive figure but his huge talent could have seen the odds favour his nation to be one of the sure candidates to win the title come February 11.

Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau are considered as the teams that wil finish in third and four places from m this section but the former have never been eliminated from the group stages in their previous four appearances.

Equatorial Guinea have also eliminated past champions Senegal, Algeria and Tunisia in those participations and were four in 2015 when they were co-hosts.

Interestingly, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea have always advanced to the knockout stages of the AFCON when they hosted in the past.

Verdict: Both Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria will likely advance from the group but if Nigeria fail to beat Equatorial Guinea in their first game on Sunday, that opens a door of opportunity for the Nzalang Nacional.