Nigeria’s national team, Super Eagles will be back in a fervent search for continental soccer glory in Egypt this summer, following the country’s emergence as host of the 32nd Africa Cup of Nations.
Sports247.ng recalls that the last time the Eagles were in Egypt in the hunt for AFCON glory was at the 2006 edition, when the Nigerians got bronze medals for their efforts.
Back in 20016 in Egypt, the Eagles played all their Group D game in Port Said, where they beat Ghana 1-0, Zimbabwe 2-0 and Senegal 2-1, before edging Tunisia 6-5 on penalties at the same, after a 1-1 draw, but lost 1-0 to Cote d’Ivoire in the semi-finals in Alexandra, before beating Senegal again 1-0 in the third place match played in Cairo on February 9th.
The Eagles will now hope to go two steps further at AFCON 2019 in Egypt, from 15th June to 13th July, following the decision on Tuesday by Confederation of African Football (CAF) to choose The Pharaohs’ Land.
CAF announced after its meeting at Terrou-Bi Hotel in Dakar, Senegal that Egypt had been voted as the first host of a 24- team AFCON, for which Nigeria has already qualified with a match to spare.
Egypt, which also hosted AFCON in 1959, 1986 and 2006, got 16 votes, with only one for the only other candidate, South Africa.
The North African country won the 1986 final against Cameroon after penalty shoot out, but Nigeria failed to qualify, and Egypt also won the 2006 final on penalties against Cote d’Ivoire.
Nigeria was absent at the 1959 and 1986 finals, but starred at the 2006 finals, which is the most recent memory of the Eagles’ AFCON outings in Egypt, the same country that stopped them from qualifying in 2015.
