On Sunday, June 18, 2023, the Super Eagles of Nigeria defeated the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone to advance to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

Victor Osimhen’s brace and Kelechi Iheanacho’s goal inflicted a 3-2 defeat on Sierra Leone in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, to book a place for the Eagles at the 2023 AFCON scheduled for January 13 to February 11, 2024, in Ivory Coast.

Nigeria, which plays Sao Tome and Principe in its final Group A qualifying match in September, is currently in first place with 12 points after five games.

With 10 points, Guinea-Bissau is in second place, followed by Sierra Leone with 5 points, and Sao Tome and Principe is at the bottom of the table.

Already, 14 of the 24 teams that will compete in the continental championship in Ivory Coast have emerged following the weekend qualifiers.

Nigeria has joined Ivory Coast (the host), Senegal (the reigning AFCON champions), and Egypt (which lost the final of the last edition in Cameroon).

Others are Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Cape Verde, South Africa, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Zambia, Burkina Faso, and Equatorial Guinea.

The draw for the tournament is slated for October 12, three months before the kickoff of the continent’s flagship football tournament.

In the meantime, football lovers are excited about the list of already qualified countries.

The presence of some of the traditional powerhouses of African football has fans relishing the prospective epic encounters that the draw will likely produce.

As the qualifiers draw to a close, football-loving Nigerians and Super Eagles fans have turned their attention to worrying about how their country will likely perform at the forthcoming tournament.

In the past, Nigerians would yearn for the competition to commence, confident that their national team was up to the task. Such confidence, unfortunately, is now replaced with concerns.

Anxiety for Jose Peseiro’s side is heightened by the fact that the Eagles were eliminated from the last AFCON by Tunisia in the round of 16.

Weighing the Super Eagles’ chances of getting to the final in Ivory Coast, Stanley Smart, an Abuja-based sports journalist, said he expect the Super Eagles to do better in Ivory Coast than their last outing in Cameroon, where they did not get past the round of 16.

“The [2023 AFCON] draw is yet to be released, so I do not know who will be their opponents in the group, but one thing I am sure of is that they will definitely qualify from the group stages.

“The current squad still has about 70–80 per cent of the players who featured in the last AFCON, so the players have gained experience.

“I hope that will count when the tournament kicks off in January, and I see them going past the round of 16 stages and reaching the semi-final stage just like the 2019 edition in Egypt if this current group of players can stay fit and injury-free when the competition starts.”

On the quality of the current Super Eagles players, Smart reflected: “Individually, the Super Eagles have talent, but one of the challenges is how to harness these talents together to get a perfect team.

“The likes of Osimhen, Chukwueze, Iwobi, and Awoniyi are good players who were exceptional for their respective club sides during the recently concluded season.”

He added: “I read a report recently that said that the Nigerian team is ranked the most expensive team in Africa. That is to tell you the quality of players the team has individually.”

He, however, hinted that the likelihood of the country winning its fourth AFCON title next February is dependent on the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

“I just hope that the NFF and the coaching crew will put all hands on deck to ensure that the team have top preparation for the tournament, and the earlier they start by organising top friendly matches and putting measures in place to make sure these players are happy and willing to sacrifice for their country, the better for the team,” he said.