Nigeria Vs Cameroon Preview : Moses & Iheanacho Key, Aboubakar Exposed, Strengths &Weaknesses

Back in November 2016, Indomitable Lions of Cameroon’s coach Hugo Broos had said it was hard to find any weakness in Super Eagles.

The Eagles had just defeated Zambia 2-1in Ndola and Algeria 3-1 in Uyo, their first two games of the 2018 FIFA world cup qualifier and were poised to take on Cameroon who were in the same group B but were yet to pick a win, with two draws from their opening two games.

Hugo Broos had told reporters that he was lucky his team would not be facing the Super Eagles until eight months later.

''They (Super Eagles) are on a high, hard to find any weakness in them at the moment, maybe we are lucky because we don’t play them until next year.

''Hopefully we would have built up confidence to explore any weakness,'' he said.

Between November 2016 and August 2017 Cameroon played 13 games while Nigeria only played just four matches.

During this period, Cameroon also emerged Africa champions having defeated teams like Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Egypt on their way to winning their fifth AFCON title in Gabon 2017.

As African champions, they represented the continent at the FIFA Confederations cup where they drew 1-1 with Australia, lost 2-0 to Chile and also lost 3-1 to world champions Germany to crash out at the group stage.

The Super Eagles on the other hand drew 1-1 with both Corsica and Senegal, beat Togo 3-0 all in friendly games and lost 2-0 at home to South Africa in a 2019 AFCON qualifying game.

Buoyed by his team’s progress in eight months, Broos now has a new message for his 2018 FIFA world cup qualifier opponent.

''We won the AFCON trophy in style beating teams like Senegal, Ghana and Egypt in the final.

''Considering the pedigree of the teams I mentioned earlier are either better or same as Nigeria, it’s normal that if we can beat them in a tense situation like at the Cup of Nations, we should also be confident we can beat Nigeria''.

The Cameroonians are known for their robust kind of game, offer a lot in terms of physical strength and are more of a defensive unit than an attacking force.

Defender Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui was the top scorer for Cameroon when they won the AFCON in January, he scored two of the team's seven goals in Gabon.

Since the cup of nations triumph, Cameroon have managed just five goals in seven games with FC Porto forward Vincent Aboubakar responsible for three of the goals. 

Aboubakar’s attributes as listed byWhoscored.com include; ''likes to play long balls, likes to cut inside, likes to do layoffs, likes to dribble, indirect set-piece threat.''

Aboubakar is a beast when allowed to run at goal one-on-one with a defender, his pace and ability to shrug off defenders stands him out against teams like the Super Eagles of Nigeria who are not comfortable playing against physically demanding opponents.

His goal in their 1-0 win over Morocco about a month ago is a typical example of the threat he poses when given the chance to make a dash at goal.

So far this season Aboubakar has registered four goals in four games for FC Porto.

He is likely to be flanked by Christian Bassogog and Benjamin Moukandjo who both play in China.

Both are not good ball handlers but have blistering pace that could trouble Shehu Abdullahi and Elderson Echiejile who are likely to play the right and left back positions for Nigeria.

Cameroon’s defense is marshaled by Michael Ngadeu Ngadjui of Slavia Prague, and Adolphe Teikeu of Sochaux, both in their late twenties and stand at about 190cm and 189 cm heights respectively.

It will be a futile bid to go into a physical war with the Cameroonian defenders because there can only be a
winner, instead it will be wise for Super Eagles ‘coach Gernot Rohr to play players like Kelechi Iheanacho, Odion Ighalo and Victor Moses who can sneak behind defenses undetected.

The presence of John Obi Mikel is very vital in this game, because without him the Eagles struggled to create against South Africa.

The Eagles attackers should also play to earn penalties (Victor Moses our best bet).

I have no doubt that a midfield comprising of Obi Mikel, Ogenyi Onazi and Wilfred Ndidi can hold their own against Arnaud Djoum, Sebastien Siani and Andre Anguissa but what am not sure of is if William Ekong ,Abdullahi Shehu , Leon Balogun and Elderson Echiejile can afford not to make costly mistakes in the Eagles defense for 90 minutes.

Nigeria top Group B with six points after two matches while Cameroon have just two, with only the group winner qualifying for the World Cup in Russia next year.

Also, no one should celebrate Cameroon’s recent off the field issues because they have shown they can stand tough times.

In January 2017, Cameroon won their fifth Africa Cup of Nations title without seven of their regular players : Liverpool defender Matip, Allan Nyom of West Bromwich, Ajax goalkeeper Andre Onana, Guy Roland of Nancy, Andre Zambo Anguissa of Marseille, Maxime Poundje of Bordeaux and Ibrahim Amadou of Lille.

Super Eagles, if playing at the FIFA world cup Russia 2018 is not enough motivation for them to beat Cameroon on September 1 in Uyo, how about winning for late Sam Okwaraji or in tribute to Eagles’ first choice goalkeeper Carl Ikeme who has been diagnosed of acute leukemia.

Bunmi Blair