IT’S been six years since Nigeria last qualified for the African Nations Championship tournament and a new array of home-based stars will hope to end the fruitless run when they take on arch-rivals Ghana in the second leg of the qualifier for the 2024 tournament on Saturday (today) in Uyo.
The eighth CHAN tournament will be hosted by Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, from February 1-28, 2025 and Nigeria and Ghana are still locked in a delicately poised contest for one of the tickets.
Both countries played out a goalless draw in the first leg of the encounter in Accra last Sunday, setting the tone for a fight to finish at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium today.
Despite securing a draw in the first leg in Accra, not being able to score an away goal puts the Super Eagles B in a delicate position against their opponents, as they must avoid a score draw and beat their opponents to advance to the tournament for the first time since 2018.
The rivalry between both countries have also been heightened leading up to previous editions of the CHAN tournament as Ghana have twice stopped Nigeria from qualifying in 2008 and 2022.
Remo Stars coach, Daniel Ogunmodede is the stand-in head coach of the team and has been working with his Rangers counterpart Fidelis Ilechukwu to prepare the 23 stars from the Nigeria Premier Football League for the encounter.
“Qualification would be monumental. It offers a platform to showcase local talent, raise the profile of the domestic league, and inspire the next generation of footballers,” Ogunmodede told CAF about what qualifying means for Nigeria.
Nigeria has never won the tournament, having finished third at the 2014 edition in South Africa before losing the final against hosts Morocco four years later.
According to the Nigeria Football Federation, the Ghanaian team arrived in Port Harcourt aboard a chartered aircraft on Friday before connecting Uyo by road after immigration formalities in the Rivers State capital.
Ghana are aiming to qualify ahead of Nigeria for the second consecutive time and the third time in history.
The Black Galaxies held the final training at the Accra Sports Stadium on Thursday with 26 players.
Despite the disappointing first leg outcome, Ghana coach Didi Dramani and his side will hope for a positive result as they aim to secure a spot in the tournament which will be hosted in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania next year.
