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00:00 The Super Eagles of Nigeria face their toughest test yet in the African Cup of Nations.
00:03 Of course, all tests have been tough and they've overcome, but this time, standing in their
00:07 way is the Bafana Bafana of South Africa.
00:10 Here's our preview of the game.
00:12 My name is Ahmed Eshotu and this is an Up Next on Guardian TV.
00:15 What are your thoughts about the Super Eagles in the African Cup of Nations so far?
00:27 The Super Eagles have been impressive.
00:30 They've impressed the whole Nigerians.
00:32 They've been inspiring also.
00:35 And they've done so much.
00:37 I think so far, the boys have really performed so well because from onset, we didn't give
00:43 them that hope.
00:46 Most people believe when they get to the second round, they'll be out of the competition.
00:51 So I think the formation has really helped.
00:54 The players have connected.
00:56 They're now playing like a team.
00:59 I'll give kudos to the captain.
01:02 Give kudos to Semen.
01:03 In fact, the whole team in general.
01:05 It's going to be a tough match.
01:07 It's going to be a tough match.
01:09 But they're going to win.
01:10 No more.
01:11 I see them winning the cup.
01:13 So what's your prediction now?
01:14 They're in the semifinal.
01:15 They'll play South Africa on Wednesday.
01:17 South Africa is like a junior Ghanaian team for us.
01:22 The match we go into extra time.
01:25 Yeah, that's my prediction.
01:26 That's really bold because none of our matches have gone into extra time.
01:29 South Africa knows how to delay match.
01:32 They know how to delay game.
01:33 They can pull you and take the game to extra time.
01:37 They always believe in their goalkeeper.
01:38 But I still believe Super Eagles win by two goals to one.
01:42 I'm looking at 2-0, if not 2-0, at most 2-1.
01:47 Let me say 3-1.
01:49 This episode, Ade and Organa are here with me to share their thoughts ahead of that big
01:55 encounter against the Bafana Bafana of South Africa.
01:58 And for context sake, the Bafana Bafana and the Super Eagles have met nine times.
02:02 The Super Eagles have won five of those nine games.
02:05 And then there have been three draws and one loss for the Super Eagles.
02:08 And now let me come to you, Ade.
02:10 What do you think Nigerians can expect from that game, really?
02:13 It is delicately poised.
02:14 Thank you very much, Ewa.
02:15 I think the Super Eagles of Nigeria will be in for a very, very strong test.
02:19 South Africa are no jokes.
02:20 Getting to this level, they face some very tough opposition.
02:24 I think the North Africans have tested them and they've been able to stand, withstand
02:30 the test of the North Africans.
02:32 Getting the draw against Tunisia, seeing out Morocco and getting to where they are.
02:37 It shows character.
02:38 It shows composure from the boys.
02:40 And it also shows the ability to take opportunities.
02:42 I think the Super Eagles of Nigeria will do well not to afford South Africa any chance.
02:47 People talk about the way South Africa, Nigeria have not really considered the goal.
02:51 And I think that there will still be a match where it might end up as an eye-flying game
02:58 or an eye-scoring game where South Africa will find the net.
03:01 Nigeria will have to respond and for the first time score at least two or three more goals.
03:05 And I think that it will also show the character of the Nigerian Super Eagles.
03:08 Because if we are saying that they are favourites now, the team has changed from the group phase
03:13 where we are looking at.
03:14 We are not seeing them as a stronger position.
03:15 If we are saying that they are favourites now, then we also need to observe that Nigeria
03:19 have certain weaknesses.
03:20 We are not really scoring goals.
03:21 We are keeping clean sheets.
03:23 We are playing compactly.
03:25 But the moments where our strikers need to turn up with two or more goals, I think that's
03:29 where the real test is.
03:30 And if there's a team that can really test us.
03:32 I thought it's Ubeke Vardy.
03:34 But fortunately for us, it's South Africa.
03:36 I think South Africa also have goals in them and they'll really test us.
03:39 So Hogan, you've worked with me through this tournament from the group phase up until the
03:43 semi-final now.
03:44 Ade is here and he's giving a different opinion.
03:47 He's saying that it's going to be end-to-end stuff more than what we've seen so far.
03:51 Do you by any chance agree with him?
03:53 I mean, considering the kind of approach that Yosef Besera has deployed with the boys at
03:58 his disposal.
03:59 Alright, thank you very much, Haywai.
04:01 We've been through this for a very long time and like I said, our team intends to improve
04:10 at every game in time that we play.
04:13 I rightly agree with him when he said we don't score goals, enough goals, which I feel is
04:19 one of those things that might be costing us.
04:23 However, to win a tournament, you don't need to score much goals as long as you are getting
04:28 the three points, which is one thing that we have been doing so far.
04:31 We have been scoring little goals and we have been achieving three points.
04:35 If we defeat South Africa or when we defeat South Africa, even if it's one goal, even
04:40 if it's a penalty shoot-out, the main idea is that we are going to the final.
04:46 However, South Africa has been a compacting team.
04:49 They've been playing very, very fantastic football.
04:53 You can see that the reason why it's like that is because we have many of these teams
04:57 to be home-based players and they've actually been winning this game because they play together.
05:02 They've been playing together for a while, which is quite different from Nigerian Super
05:06 Eagles.
05:07 You have players coming from different angles, coming from different teams and Pocero is
05:12 trying to bring so many ideas together to form a particular one, to form an OAO.
05:19 It has been working for us.
05:20 We talked about formation and we've seen so far that the formation has been very good.
05:26 It protects the defenders and I feel that's one of the reasons why many teams do not score
05:30 against us.
05:32 I think we've only conceded one or two goals in this competition so far.
05:37 We have only been scoring one goal, two goals, which is the last one we saw.
05:43 Two games ago, we saw them score two goals and we've had chances.
05:47 It's just that we've not been able to come back to them well.
05:50 We've had chances where we scored and it had to be whether a foul on a particular player,
05:57 on an opener player or probably an offside.
06:01 We've also had penalties that we should have had that we're not giving to us.
06:04 I believe that as we go further, we get more and I'm sure we're going to the finals.
06:10 Interesting take from you guys, Ade and Ogam.
06:14 Nigerians are very, very keen to understand what the approach would be like.
06:20 You rightly mentioned there are up to eight players from Mamelodi Sundowns who are playing
06:26 together in the South African team.
06:27 This is a team that has better understanding, unlike some of the countries we've played.
06:32 If you look at teams that have gone on to win, kind of like the Egypt era, when they
06:36 won in the 2010s, really, before 2010 that is, when they won back to back to back, like
06:41 a three-peat of the African Cup of Nations.
06:44 You know that from that history, there were teams that played together, even from their
06:49 local leagues.
06:50 How best do you combat this kind of challenge?
06:53 I think that Stanley Wild Bali should be our reference point right now.
06:57 If you are looking at the quality that Stanley Wild Bali possesses as the goalkeeper of the
07:02 Super Eagles, all of us know that that guy is class.
07:05 It shows a long way to showing us the level in which the South African league is right
07:11 now.
07:12 Having players from there, having players from the South African league is something
07:15 that they will want to build out.
07:17 The chemistry is already there.
07:18 They play together at the same levels.
07:20 Nigeria so far, our first two games, we're struggling with the chemistry.
07:26 We're struggling with understanding each other's movements.
07:29 What Ademola Lukman and Victor Osima are doing now wasn't something that we saw in the first
07:34 two games.
07:35 So I know that chemistry is building with the Super Eagles, but we should not rule out
07:40 the quality of the South African players, the quality of the league, and the quality
07:43 of the players.
07:44 If you are thinking of how should we look at the level of the quality of the players,
07:48 don't look at Stanley Wild Bali.
07:50 I know that he's from that league, he's one of the top performers in the league, and I
07:54 expect the very best from that league to come out and represent South Africa.
07:57 Another thing that we need to be careful of is no matter what happens, no matter what
08:02 happens, Ose Pesero, Victor Osima, Ademola, I need to start calling names now.
08:06 That game must not go to penalties.
08:09 The Super Eagles of Nigeria have not really put themselves in that position, except from
08:12 the first game against Equatorial Guinea where they need to respond very quickly after going
08:16 the goals down.
08:17 The Super Eagles have not really gotten in a situation where pressure is on them.
08:21 What they've done so far this tournament is contain the opposition, take the first goal,
08:26 contain the opposition, somehow keeping faith in their own hand.
08:29 In situations where things go opposite, how will they respond, how will they show character,
08:34 that's where my big one is.
08:35 Certain players also need to be called into question.
08:38 We need to make sure that we don't concede, and we need to make sure that the game does
08:41 not go to penalties.
08:42 Williams, the goalkeeper of South Africa, will be high in confidence.
08:45 He saved four of the five penalties he saved, he faced, against Kevadi.
08:50 I am very sure that we don't really have much penalty takers in the national team ranks.
08:55 So it's going to be a very tough one, and I expect the Super Eagles to win eventually.
08:59 Interesting take from you Ade, and it'll be interesting to see really how the match pans
09:02 out.
09:03 But then, let's come to that.
09:04 What direction do you see this game going to?
09:06 Is it going to be penalties, is it going to be extra time?
09:09 Are they going to do the business in 90 minutes?
09:11 And if they do the business in 90 minutes, what's the scoreline you are predicting?
09:15 Thank you very much.
09:16 You see, like we rightly said, Ade has said a lot and makes a lot of sense.
09:22 And we are just looking forward to the game.
09:24 No matter what you do, just make sure that you get the three points.
09:27 The three points is the most important thing.
09:29 However, we talked about not making us get to the penalty shootout because that goalkeeper
09:38 is one of the best that we've seen so far, saving penalties in this competition.
09:43 But I feel that now it's an open eye for us, for the Super Eagles, it's an open eye for
09:48 us even if we get into a penalty shootout.
09:51 We know his weak points, we know where his strength lies, and I feel that we can do better.
09:58 But I, as a person, I'm aiming towards us not getting into the penalty shootout.
10:03 Let's kill the game in 90 minutes.
10:05 I believe that if the same hunger we've been putting towards other games, we can put more
10:10 at this time, then we can get the goal.
10:12 Like we always do, we contain the team, we score the first goal, and we contain the play,
10:18 and we decide the tune of play.
10:21 If we can do that, then I feel that we can do more.
10:24 And I'm taking it that we might not have much goals, but I'm looking at a 2-1 or a 1-0 victory
10:34 to the Super Eagles.
10:35 I expect the game against South Africa to be a nice scoring game.
10:38 I'm looking at probably a 3-1 or a 3-0.
10:42 So yes, you've heard the opinions of the fans on the street and also the opinions of the
10:46 panelists on the show about the game in Prospect against the South Africans on Wednesday.
10:52 And of course, you can let us know your opinions right there on the comments section.
10:56 Thank you very, very much for watching this episode.
10:58 It's been a fantastic show.
11:00 And also as we preview the game against South Africa in Prospect.
11:04 You can be part of the community here by hitting the subscribe button and also get our latest
11:09 content on YouTube by hitting the notification bell as well.
11:13 My name is Ahmed Eshotobor.
11:14 I thank you very much for watching.
11:17 And we wish the Super Eagles all the best in their game against Bafana Bafana.
11:21 See you next time.
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