Super Eagles Next AFCON Opponents, São Tomé Are Perennial Punching Bags

Nigeria’s Super Eagles will on Monday take on São Tomé and Príncipe in their match day 2 fixtures of the qualifying series of the 2023  Africa Cup of Nations.

The Nigerian side go into the match slated for neutral ground in Morocco as the Estádio Nacional 12 de Julho in São Tomé and Príncipe did not meet the minimum requirement for international matches.

It is for the same reason that Sierra Leone are playing their home games away from home in Conakry, Guinea.

The São Tomé and Príncipe team is nicknamed “Falcão e Papagaio” and had been a punching bag for opponents in the qualification for the last three editions of the Africa Cup of Nations.

On Thursday, they slumped 5-1 to Guinea Bissau in a duel that  followed the sequence of the two previous qualifying series.

So, for the third consecutive time, the Santomean team started qualifying for the AFCON again, with a heavy defeat having lost to Cape Verde, 7-1 in 2015 edition and Sudan 4-0 in 2019 qualifiers.

If the trend persist on Monday, the Super Eagles should be able to not only win the match, but also score many goals to wrestle the group leadership from Guinea Bissau who will be away to Sierra Leone.