Opta ranks Nigeria 6th AFCON favourites

According to Opta Sports, a British sports analytics company, using a supercomputer in predicting the winner of the upcoming 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, Nigeria rank 6th favourite country to win the tournament.

The 34th edition of the Africa showpiece is billed to start on Saturday with the final holding February 11.

The Super Eagles are drawn in Group A alongside the hosts, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau.

The Eagles are hoping to win the AFCON for the fourth time having previously won the tournament in 1980, 1994 and 2013.

But as predicted by Opta, using their supercomputer, the Eagles have an 8.1 per cent chance of winning the AFCON for the first time in 10 years.

“After winning their third AFCON in 2013, Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2015 and 2017 editions, then finished third in 2019 and suffered a last-16 exit at the hands of Tunisia last time out. Boss José Peseiro will be confident of a better display this time around should his star attackers click,” the website wrote.

“Napoli talisman Osimhen was the leading scorer in qualification, with his 10 goals at least twice as many as any other player (four players had five). Since the last AFCON ended on February 6, 2022, just four players have scored more goals in the big five European leagues than Osimhen’s 42 – Mbappé (65), Kane (63), Haaland (56) and Martínez (47).

“The injury to fellow striker Victor Boniface will place added onus on Osimhen’s ability to lead Nigeria’s attack. Boniface is undoubtedly a big loss for Peseiro’s side: the Bayer Leverkusen striker has 10 goals and seven assists in 16 Bundesliga appearances this term, with only Leroy Sané (eight) bettering that latter tally. Nice’s Terem Moffi has been called up to replace him.

“Still, the Super Eagles have plenty of dynamism behind that duo, with only nine Premier League players bettering Alex Iwobi’s tally of 13 shot-ending carries for Fulham in 2023-24. Atalanta’s Ademola Lookman should start off the left, and he ranks second in Serie A for open-play goals per 90 this campaign (0.56), behind only Martínez (0.94).

“The Nigerians have a 8.1% chance of lifting the trophy, though they must first navigate a tricky Group A, facing Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau either side of a clash with the hosts on January 18.”

Defending champions Senegal ranked first among the candidates to win the AFCON with a percentage of 12.8%, followed by Ivory Coast with 12.1%, then Morocco with 11.1% and Algeria with 9.7%, while Egypt and Nigeria are in fifth and sixth place respectively.

“Atalanta’s Ademola Lookman should start off the left, and he ranks second in Serie A for open-play goals per 90 this campaign (0.56), behind only Martínez (0.94).”