CHAN final preview: To make history, Nigeria must overcome in-form Morocco

The Atlas Lions of Morocco are a team in the form of their lives, favourites to win the African Nations Championships, and also the host country.

It’s a triple threat the Super Eagles of Nigeria will have to overcome on Sunday night when they square up against each other in the final.

Nigeria may have thrice won the African Cup of Nations, but this is their best ever performance in CHAN and winning the trophy will be a first.

For the Super Eagles to become champions, the Salisu Yusuf -led technical crew must come up with an unstoppable strategy to beat Morocco, who have so far been the best team in the championship.

The Eagles will have to raise their game and put their best foot forward, bearing in mind that the Atlas Lions entered CHAN 2018 as the favourites and they have so far lived up to the billing.

For Nigeria, the absence of Ikechukwu Ezenwa, Daniel Itodo, Ifeanyi Ifeanyi, Sunday Faleye and Emeka Ogbugh has no doubt hampered coach Salisu’s selection.

Ekundayo Ojo is the man to watch in Nigeria’s midfield. The coach will be hoping he’ll replicate his assured control and incisive passing against both Angola and Sudan, as well as his excellent screamer in the 3-1 victory over Equatorial Guinea.

Apart from their much-hyped attacking acumen, Salisu’s men are quite decent at the back, having kept three clean sheets so far. But the Moroccans are terrific up front, and they have a midfield capable of picking their way through the most tightly locked defence.

The Super Eagles must be wary of eight-goal hero Ayoub El Kaabi, as well as the likes of Walid El Karti, Zakaria Hadraf, Salaheddine Saidi, Ismail El Haddad and Abdeljalil Jbria.

The Lions, meanwhile, will have to stop Akwa United striker Gabriel Okechukwu, Anthony Okpotu, Ojo, Rabiu Ali, Osas Okoro and Augustine Oladapo to deny Nigeria a first CHAN title.

Head to head: Morocco vs Nigeria

The head-to-head record of the two nations makes for an interesting read. In 19 meetings, Morocco have won eight, Nigeria seven, while four matches ended in a draw.

Their first confrontation (a two-legged Tokyo ’64 Olympics qualifying fixture) ended in a tie that had to be resolved by a playoff in a neutral ground (Dakar). The Moroccans won 2-1.

Morocco beat Nigeria twice in five days in Ethiopia (1976) to win their only Africa Cup of Nations title till date. Four years later, Nigeria avenged that defeat in the semi-final of the Nations Cup before going ahead to beat Algeria in the final.

Nigeria eliminated Morocco in the race for 1970 FIFA World Cup and the 1976 Olympics, but the Lions stopped Nigeria from reaching the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics.

In their only previous CHAN encounter, Nigeria came from three goals down to defeat Morocco 4-3 in a quarter-final contest in Cape Town.

That was four years ago.