Tunde Folawiyo

Nigeria’s quest to defend their crown will begin in September with the qualifier for the Morocco 2015 Africa Cup of Nations. With Super Eagles fans such as Tunde Folawiyo on the edge of their seats, the fixtures have now been revealed:

6th September 2014              Nigeria v Rwanda

10th September 2014           South Africa v Nigeria

11th October 2014                Sudan v Nigeria

15th October 2014                Nigeria v Sudan

15th November 2014            Rwanda v Nigeria

19th November 2014            Nigeria v South Africa

Rwanda

The Super Eagles’ first fixture will be against the Amavubi of Rwanda at a venue yet to be named. Under new coach Stephen Constantine, Rwanda have made impressive progress, eliminating Libya 3-0 on aggregate in the first qualifying round. Basking in confidence after their 2-0 win against Congo, they will surely be looking to add Nigeria to their list of wins.

South Africa

South Africa is rated as the weakest contender of the three, but with Serero’s flashes of brilliance and a few other good players amongst their ranks, Nigeria should be confident but never complacent.

Sudan

Sudan, under coach Mohammed Abdallah Mazdah, will be giving their all to qualify after bitterly missing out to Ethiopia in 2013.

The Africa Cup of Nations will be held from 17th January to 8th February 2015, with Morocco hosting the tournament for a second time. After a persuasive 1-0 victory against Burkina Faso in South Africa in 2013, the Super Eagles will be giving their all to hold onto the title.

Emmanuel Emenike was a major contributor to the Super Eagles’ 2013 Africa Cup of Nations success, scoring a free kick from an astounding 30 yards and three other goals in the tournament, earning him a place in the team of African Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament and the Pepsi Tournament Top Scorer accolade.  Mba gave another impressive performance in the final, breaking the team out of deadlock against Burkina Faso just before the whistle. Once they had broken into the lead, the Nigerian team were unstoppable, running rings around their opponents, earning them a place at the Confederation Cup in Brazil.

The burning question of Super Eagles supporters like Tunde Folawiyo is whether the team can hold onto the top spot this year in Morocco and lift the Africa Cup again. To discover more about this Super Eagles enthusiast and award winning African businessman, visit the Tunde Folawiyo profile page.

Whilst Stephen Keshi might be a favourite amongst Super Eagles’ fans, the Nigeria Football Federation has expressed its frustration regarding the coach’s behaviour over the past two months or so, and are now asking that he explain himself. Sports fanatics like Tunde Folawiyo may have heard that the NFF is unhappy with Keshi not requesting permission before he decided to attend a media function, rather than going to the scheduled meeting with the NFF’s technical committee a few weeks ago. In addition to this, they have asked him to justify his recent trip to the USA last year, which resulted in him missing the event hosted for the Eagles by President Goodluck Jonathan.(1)

Although Keshi is required to send in a formal response to this complaint, this is probably the least of his concerns right now; with the World Cup drawing closer, he is undoubtedly more worried about preparing the team, and ensuring that they perform at their best when the time comes. Eagles fans such as Tunde Folawiyo may be aware that Vincent Enyeama, the Eagles’ goalkeeper, has stated that he has some doubts about how well they will fare against Iran and the other teams that they will be facing in Group F. He warned the rest of his teammates not to underestimate their opponents who, he argues, are just as determined to progress to the next stage.

Henry Nwosu, on the other hand, seems very confident regarding the Eagles’ abilities, and has said that he believes players like Emmanuel Emenike and Victor Moses will help to guide the team towards victory. Speaking to a journalist at the Tom-Tom event in Lagos last week, he described Emenike as ‘fantastic’, and said that his quick-footedness would make life very difficult for opposing teams.

Regardless of how things turn out, the Eagles will have a great deal of support; Dr. Rauf Ladipo, who serves as the President of the Nigeria Football Supporters club, has indicated that there will be at least 10,000 fans travelling to Brazil to cheer them on. Like Nwosu, Ladipo hinted at this whilst speaking to the press at the aforementioned Tom-Tom evening. He stated that he had spent 11 days travelling around the major cities of Brazil, encouraging Nigerian football fans to attend the upcoming matches.