Nigeria and Cameroon will renew their hostilities in the Round of 16 of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium on Saturday.
Three-time champions, Super Eagles of Nigeria, finished second behind Equatorial Guinea in Group A, while Rigobert Song’s Indomitable Cameroon side, five-time champions rallied on a late comeback against The Gambia to progress to the knockout stage.
Saturday’s fixture is tipped as the toughest round of 16 clash as two of the AFCON giants meet in place for the last 8.
The Super Eagles have struggled for goals at AFCON 2023, netting three times despite heading into the knockout stage as the competition’s top creators, fashioning more clear-cut chances (13) than the other 23 sides.
Victor Osimhen’s finishing has been suboptimal in games against Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast and Guinea-Bissau, and the African Footballer of the Year’s expected goals underperformance is the worst at the continental showpiece.
The Indomitable Lions will be keen to avenge their defeat to Nigeria at this stage of the 2019 AFCON.
History, pedigree, current form and turf familiarity are factors weighing heavily in favour of the Super Eagles as they confront the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in the Round of 16 at the 34th Africa Cup of Nations on Saturday.
Super Eagles presently boast the Africa Player of the Year in Victor Osimhen, and the Super Eagles have more familiarity with the Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, where they pipped Guinea Bissau 1-0 on Monday to make sure of their place in this competition’s Round of 16.
Nigeria vs Cameroon Betting Tips (Opta)
Nigeria are predicted to beat Cameroon and advance to the AFCON 2023 quarter-finals, with the Super Eagles winning inside 90 minutes in 45.9% of simulations before kick-off.
This will be the eighth meeting between Nigeria and Cameroon at the Africa Cup of Nations, with three of those previous games being finals (1984, 1988 and 2000).
Nigeria and Cameroon are set to face at the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time since doing so at this stage in 2019, with the Super Eagles winning 3-2 with goals from Odion Ighalo (2) and Alex Iwobi.
Cameroon won two of their first three AFCON matches against Nigeria (D1) but have since lost three of their last four (D1).
The Indomitable Lions have only lost more AFCON matches against Egypt (4) than they have against Nigeria (3).
For their 15th consecutive AFCON tournament, Nigeria have reached the knockout stages. Excluding third-place play-off matches.
Nigeria have been eliminated in their last two knockout ties (2019 semi-finals, 2021 last 16) after winning four in a row beforehand.
Nigeria have won six of their last eight matches at the Africa Cup of Nations (D1 L1) but their only defeat in this sequence was in a 1-0 reverse against Tunisia at the last-16 stage in the 2021 AFCON.
Since losing the 2000 AFCON final to Cameroon as host nation (4-3 on penalties following a 2-2 draw), Nigeria have won both of their meetings with the Indomitable Lions at AFCON.
Nigeria have both played in (40) and won (22) more matches in the knockout stages of AFCON than any other nation.
Excluding own goals, each of Cameroon’s last 21 goals at the Africa Cup of Nations have been scored by players who were playing their club football in either Saudi Arabia (9) or France (12) at the time of scoring; the last player to do so for a non-French or Saudi club was Yaya Banana in 2019, who was playing in Greece.
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