Fulham of England centre back, Calvin Bassey has promised that he and his colleagues in the Super Eagles’ defence will work harder to stop Algeria from scoring during Saturday’s quarter-final clash at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
Sports247 reports that the former Glasgow Rangers of Scotland and Ajax of Netherlands left-footed defender admitted that the game in Marrakech will be tough but vowed to work hard for another clean sheet.
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While stating his plans for Saturday’s clash with the team that beat Nigeria in the semi-finals of AFCON 2019, Bassey disclosed that he was happy after helping the Super Eagles get a clean sheet versus Mozambique.
He is now thinking of maintaining the momentum in this upcoming crunch encounter with the team that beat Nigeria 5-1 in the opening game of AFCON 1990 and 1-0 in the final of same tournament on their home soil.
Consequently, heading into Saturday’s rematch, Bassey promised that all players in the Super Eagles’ back-four will be on their toes for as long as action lasts on the pitch (considering the possibility of extra time).
He pointed out that Eagles’ coach, Eric Chelle has been working on how to prevent the defence from letting in late goals, as was the case versus Tanazania and Tunisia in their first two games at AFCON 2025.
The former Leicester City of England youth team player disclosed that tips from Chelle helped the team get their first clean sheet of this competition against The Mambas and assured that they will do better on Saturday.
Bassey retorted: “I’m pleased. (Chelle) said there were only a few details that we needed. We had conceded around the 70th minute in both games.
“So he’s just making sure when it gets to that time, everyone’s got to stay focused. It’s towards making sure that I’m able to put people in the right position.”
Sports247 gathered further that the victor between Nigeria and Algeria will move on to a potentially explosive semi-finals clash with five-time winners Cameroon or ongoing AFCON 2025 hosts Morocco.
