Nigeria takes one at a time ahead of Guinea clash

As the Africa Cup of Nations heads to the second round, Super Eagles of Nigeria will approach each of their remaining matches with a lot of caution.

Nigerian striker Odion Ighalo, who came from the bench to score the only goal for his side in their 1-0 win against Burundi, admits they played against a tactical team saying Burundi was well prepared for the match.

Ighalo, who spoke to Citizen Digital from Cairo Egypt, says he is happy to have come from the bench to redeem his side just four minutes into the game in the 78th minute when a barren draw was imminent.

The striker, who plies his trade for Chinese side Shanghai Greenland Shenhua, says  they are now focused on their second match against Guinea tomorrow saying they are expecting a tough game.

‘’We have watched their videos, they are very good but we are determined to beat them to sail to the last 16,’’ said Ighalo.

Nigeria are at the helm of group B at 3 points followed by Madagascar and Guinea who settled for a two-all while Burundi -who went down 1-0 to Nigeria- trail the group.

Meanwhile, Nigerian German tactician Gernot Rhor was full of praise for the Burundians saying they employed a tact that was basically to make the Burundians get tired.

‘’I am not a prophet, but I knew the match would be tough. So, I decided to use a tact that would make them tired by employing good circulation of the ball’’.

Burundi was unbeaten in the qualifiers and Rhor says that was a reason to make him cautious.

Should Nigeria beat Guinea on Wednesday, they will earn a ticket to the round of 16 since they will be commanding group B with 6 points, leaving the rest of the teams in the group scrambling for runners up position.

The Super Eagles have won the title three times, the latest being 2013, when they beat Burkina Faso in the final.

Nigeria is one of the teams that have won their opening matches in this tournament so far with Uganda, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Mali and Senegal closing the group of outright winners.

 

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Nigeria Burundi Odion Ighalo AFCON2019

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