Monday, January 27, 2014

Big match feature: Nigeria v Morocco

Nigeria's Super Eagles will go head-to-head with the Atlas Lions of Morocco in a quarterfinal match of the ongoing African Nations Championship (Chan) in South Africa.
Stephen Keshi's men come into the knockout stage after defeating Mozambique and South Africa in their last two games while the Moroccans are one of the unbeaten teams at the tournament after notching up a win and two draws to win Group B.
The Super Eagles are now tagged as one of the favourites following their outstanding performance against the Bafana Bafana of South Africa.
Nigeria surely have depth going forward as they have netted the highest number of goals so far after netting eight times in three games, averaging 1.6 goal(s) per game.
But the Super Eagles biggest worry has been defending where they have conceded five goals, which is the highest than any of other seven quarterfinalists.
Despite the weakness at the back, Morocco will have to also work to keep the like of Ejike Uzoenyi, Ifeanyi Ede, Rabiu Ali and Gbolahan Salami at bay.
Morocco, on the other hand, have conceded two goals and scored four with three coming in their last group match against Uganda.
Keshi and his men will have to be wary of the plucky North Africans who prefer a 4-4-2 formation with the like of Mouhssine Iajour, Mohsine Moutaouali, Abdessamad Rafik, Abdelkabir El Ouadi and Brahim El Bahri in the thick of things.
Hassan Benabicha's team have adopted a style of short passes and using the flanks when attacking and that is where the Nigerian defence will have lots of work to do.
Nigeria will be without Solomon Kwambe and it is likely Keshi will field a back four of Bright Esieme, Kunle Odunlami, Azubuike Egwuekwe and Erhun Obanor.
However, Nigeria head coach, Keshi, has said he will prefer his team do the job on the pitch.
"We don't want to talk much as we would prefer to do all the talking on the pitch," he said.
Benabicha has branded the Nigeria versus Morocco game as "the match of the tournament."
"The match against Nigeria should be the match of the tournament; talk of a final before final and this is it. We should provide the spectators with a really treat of a game. I personally am relishing the prospect of this encounter," Benabicha told Cafonline.com.
The Nigeria - Morocco match is live on SuperSport 4 and Select as well as in High Definition from 16.45 CAT this Saturday.
Probable line-ups
Nigeria: Chigozie Agbim (c); Bright Esieme, Kunle Odunlami, Azubuike Egwuekwe, Erhun Obanor; Abdullahi Shehu, Rabiu Ali, Ugonna Uzochukwu; Ejike Uzoenyi, Gbolahan Salami, Ifeanyi Ede
Morocco: Nadir Lamyaghric (c); Abderrahim Achchakir, Zakaria El Hachimi, Mohamed Abarhoun, Mohamed Oulhaj; Issam Erraki, Walid El Karti, Anas Al Asbahi, Mohsine Moutaouali; Brahim El Bahri, Mouhssine Iajour

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