The Super Eagles of Nigeria will be squaring up to the Desert Foxes of Algeria in an international friendly on Friday. The game will be a remake of the AFCON 2019 semi-final famed for that sensational last-minute free-kick winner from Riyad Mahrez which helped the North Africans pup the Eagles 2-1.
The two sides are, in fact, well acquainted with each other having faced off thrice in the last four years.
Friday’s encounter will be staged at the Worthersee Stadion, Klagenfurt in Austria and the kick-off time is 8:30pm local time (7:30pm Nigerian time)
Team News
– Nigeria:
The Eagles will without their budding hitman Victor Osimhen, who pulled out of the squad permissively due to the current two-week quarantine imposed on Napoli players following a Covid-19 scare.
Regular faces in midfield Wilfred Ndidi, Joe Aribo and Oghenekaro Etebo are also out of the encounter owing to injuries. Aribo, in fact, wasn’t named in the squad.
Kevin Akpoguma, who has recently been cleared by FIFA to make his switch of international commitment to Nigeria, is set to play a part in the Friday encounter. Although the center-back wasn’t named in the 25-man squad list, Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr has hinted that the player will make his debut in the game having partaken in all their training sessions since his arrival at camp on Monday.
– Algeria:
The Foxes’ marksman Baghdad Bounedjah is expected to start the game on the bench having arrived the training camp quite late, but the North Africans could yet feature a really strong squad with the likes of Riyad Mahrez, Said Benrahma, Ismael Bennacer and Sofiane Feghouli raring to star.
The duo of right-back Mehdi Zeffane and midfielder Zinedine Ferhat will watch proceedings from the bench as both had recently incurred injuries in training.
What the Managers Say
– Gernot Rohr:
“I want to see good football. I want to see the same spirit we had in the last games. I want to assess the new faces.
“We’re preparing for the next AFCON, even the World Cup.
“The result is not so important, but it’s a preparation for the future.”
“We know Algeria are unbeaten in 18 games now, but we’ll like to be the ones to stop it (the streak). But we know it won’t be easy.
“They have progressed a lot since the time we beat them in Uyo. For me they’re no. 1 in Africa even though they are 4th on the rankings.”
“It will be a very big test for us.”
– Djamel Belmadi:
“Nigeria everyone knows, it is the 2nd (3rd, actually) best team in the FIFA / CAF ranking .
“I was looking for matches that could put us in difficulty. Some might say we have to pick up back slowly, but I don’t see it like that, we have to take advantage of FIFA dates, there aren’t that many.
“I opted for difficult matches because I believe that the progress of a team depends on that.
“We could have opted very quickly against smaller teams but I had the requirement to obtain these two prestigious matches against Nigeria and Mexico.”
Form Guide
Nigeria are unbeaten in their last five matches. They last faced defeat against their Friday opponent Algeria in the semi-finals of AFCON 2019 (W3 D2).
Algeria have also unbeaten in the last five matches they’ve played since winning the Nation’s Cup in the final against Senegal (W4 D1).
Head to Head
The forthcoming clash will be the 21st meeting between both sides and the Eagles have the edge on the head-to-head record with 9 wins while 4 games have ended in stalemates.
Where to Watch
It’s confirmed the game will be live on the SuperSport LaLiga channel which is available on DStv and GOtv. African Independent Television (AIT) are also expected to beam the encounter live.
What are your predictions for the game? A sweet revenge for the Eagles or another good day in office for the seemingly unstoppable African champions?
Get to back your favoured team up on our football betting platform. Tip: the game will sure produce goals.