Former Super Eagles coach Sunday Oliseh has issued a warning to the team not to take Mozambique lightly ahead of their round of 16 encounter next Monday, SportPremi reports.
Nigeria will face Mozambique in the first knockout round at the ongoing African Cup of Nations tournament in Morocco at the Fez Stadium on the 5th of this month.
The Super Eagles qualified for the next phase after breezing to the top of Group C ahead of Tunisia, Tanzania and Uganda with a flawless record.
Eric Chelle’s men won all their three group matches, scoring eight goals – the highest so far at the tournament, and conceding four times.
They will now face the Mambas in the round of 16 as they continue their quest for a fourth title.
Oliseh warns Super Eagles against complacency
Sunday Oliseh, who won the 1994 African Cup of Nations as a player with the Nigerian national team, expressed confidence in the current crop of players.
However, he advised them against being too confident to avoid a shock exit from the AFCON tournament in Morocco.
“I’m not going to go into details but one thing I will tell you is this, anybody that underrates Mozambique should be ready to pick up the flight ticket back home”, Oliseh stated.
“This is a very good team and winning this team should further boost our self-belief. Tactically, what is going to come at Super Eagles is not going to be easy.”
The former Nigerian coach also lauded the impact of Victor Osimhen, who has only scored once so far in Morocco.
The Galatasaray forward has been directly involved in 19 shots for the Super Eagles – the most in the tournament, while he has also had two goals disallowed for offside.
“Well, he wants to score and I think it is in his best interest that he scores goals. But what he’s been doing that I find very interesting is that and especially the last game, he was looking to be more collective”, Oliseh continued.
“He was looking to find ways to play and I think that’s good. Look at the last championship, he scored only one goal and we got to the final. If he’s going to score one goal now and Nigeria gets to the final then let him score just that one goal.”
Nigeria will face Mozambique at the Fez Stadium on Monday night, eyeing a win to progress to the next round of the African Cup of Nations.
A win over the Mambas could set up a potential quarterfinal tie against DR Congo, who eliminated them in the CAF playoffs for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, while they could also face Algeria in a repeat of the 2019 AFCON semifinal match.
