A strong tip has emerged in favour of Nigeria’s Super Eagles to emerge champions of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations by defeating hosts Morocco in the final early next year.
Sports247 reports that this prediction was offered by a football instructor and coach, Akande Fatai Adejumo Smith, during a special preview of the 35th AFCON, which begins this Sunday in Rabat.
Coach Smith admitted that the Super Eagles do not look formidable at the moment, but he quickly reasoned that the acclaimed Nigerian ‘factor’ can make them spring a surprise when written off.
He stated this and much more during ‘Hot Seat’ segment of Inside Naija Sports, a live streaming programme on YouTube from the studio of Sports247 Naija TV, starting at 11:45am every Friday.
Akande, who is also the head coach of Vinod Football Academy of Lagos, reasoned further that, due to poor planning and shaky preparations, the Eagles should not be able to face teams from well-organised European countries, but pointed out that the peculiar Nigerian nature still makes the squad formidable all the time.
He piinted out: “There is this special thing about Nigeria. Normally, the volume of work done by Europeans should put them several steps ahead of us, and we should not be able to play against them.
“They practise so much and do all the real things that are needed. They are so much into perfecting coaching and technical issues of football, which we don’t do.
“But, despite all that, Nigeria will gather hurriedly, we’ll still go to play against them, and sometimes we’ll beat them. The same applies when we play against African countries.
“That makes everything look like they are wasting their time with all those efforts, but they are not. Our own style is temporary while theirs is long-term. In Nigeria, we form a team today, and we want to win a cup tomorrow.”
Coach Smith, who played in Singapore and Malaysia during his active career, also took a specific look at AFCON 2025 and concluded that the Super Eagles only need to work together and build the spirit of togetherness among themselves in order to emerge as champions.
“I believe the players just have to be on the right frame of mind and have good chemistry among themselves in order to win the cup.
“If they show good understanding of the game and have good rhythm during play, then they’ll surprise everyone. That’s why I won’t rule them out at this AFCON.
“Anything can happen! So, I will always stick out my neck for the Super Eagles to win; but I know Morocco will always be a strong contender. It will be tough, but we can win this tournament,” Smith reiterated.
