By Chisom Patience Ukachukwu
The Mediterranean Knights of Libya will play host to the Super Eagles of Nigeria in match day 4 of the African Cup of Nations qualifiers in Sfax, Tunisia today by 7pm.
The North African country, who were the winners of the CHAN tournament in 2014 are currently placed third on the group E table, after gathering 4 points from 3 matches.
The first leg encounter between the North African country and Nigeria ended 4 goals to nil in favor of the three time African Champions, with Striker Odion Ighalo netting a hatrick at the Akwa Ibom international stadium after firing blanks at the just concluded FIFA World Cup tournament.
Libya, which their main coach, Adel Amrouche, resigned from his work few days to the first leg encounter probably to fear, after accusing the Nigerian side of using Juju in football games, stated the real reasons behind his resignation, when he said it has to do with renumeration.
The team will be struggling to get maximum 3 points against their West African opponent to keep their hopes alive of securing an AFCON 2019 ticket in Cameroon.
A win for the Libyans will place them on 7points with 1 point above Nigeria, which is most desirable for them going into the game.
Meanwhile the Coach of the Super Eagles, Gernot Rohr, has said he will maintain his squad that won the game in Uyo for the second leg clash.
This will avail the Arsenal star, Alexander Iwobi, the opportunity to play a free role on the midfield with the main job of creating goal scoring opportunities.
Striker, Odion Ighalo, will hope to continue shaming his critics should he find the back of the net in Sfax today, as well as captain Ahmed Musa, who will be leading the team once again in the absence of John Mikel Obi.
Ogenyi Onazi and Shehu Abdullahi are ruled out of the game due to injury while Torino’s Ola Aina will continue in the right back for the Eagles as a replacement for injured Shehu Abdullahi.
Group E Table
However, the President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, also urged the Super Eagles to take advantage of their 3points win in the first leg clash against Libya when they played the second leg later today in Sfax, Tunisia.
The NFF boss noted that the three time African Champions, should take their chances in the game and try as much as possible not to throw away scoring chances that comes their way in the game.
He said: “In a game like this when the host is disadvantaged, the Eagles should mount ceaseless pressure on the Libyans, who are also playing away from home due to the political instability in their country. This situation gives the Eagles to share in the support from the Tunisian football supporters, who still remembers the Super Eagles from the exploits of the 1994 and 2004 Africa Nations Cup.
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“The Eagles have a better opportunity to nail the Libyans, but this won’t be easy as the Libyans will play more attacking football since they have little pressure in their hands. When a team have little or nothing to lose, they play dangerously not minding if the opponent goes to score them or not.
A win for the Gernot Rohr’s boys will guarantee them 9 points and a first position on the group ‘E’ table as South Africa played a barren draw with Seychelles earlier today with 8 points from 4 matches.
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