THE MOST LOPSIDED NIGERIAN GAME APPROACHES. . .

On September 8, Nigeria plays its most lopsided encounter ever. Opponent? Seychelles in a 2019 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier in Victoria. Since Nigeria played its first game in 1949, it has never been involved in a mismatch as the Victoria game portends. Thus, the recent statement by Coach Gernot Rohr, that Nigeria cannot afford to lose in Victoria is a major understatement. The fact is that Nigeria must win and by a big margin. Anything else will be considered underwhelming. Already, one of Nigeria's group contenders for a place in the 2019 AFCON finals -- Libya -- has whipped Seychelles 5-1.

This game should not even be a contest. A low-populated archipelago, such as Seychelles, has no chance and for good reasons. Comparing both countries (see Table 1) informs you of all you need to know about the upcoming contest. What is realistic is that this is the game where the likes of Ighalo and Iheanacho should use in filling out their goal scoring statistics. Make no mistake about it. What we should be watching is whether Nigeria can set a new national team record of the largest away win margin. That record is currently 4-0 earned over Sudan in Omdurman in a 2002 World Cup qualifier. by end of the day on September 8 a new away winning margin might be set by the Super Eagles.

Let's just review the data on Table 1. Just under 100,000 people make up Seychelles. Slightly over 50% of them are males and just 36,000 are aged 15-64 years old. We do not have additional stats to indicate those who are footballers but it has to be much less because basketball is more popular in the country than football and obviously we do not expect males over 35 playing for the national team! Moreover, reports in the Nigerian media indicate that the Seychelles team had difficulty getting invited players from the country's 12 premier league clubs to join the national camp. This is the situation as Nigeria's team of fully professional players arrive largely from Europe.









Then take a look at FIFA ranking. Seychelles is number 188, a tad higher than the worst footballing countries in global football. At 188, Seychelles is only better than Djibouti, Eritrea, and Somalia in Africa. But then  think of this -- Eritrea's last game was in 2015 and its last point was in 2011. Somalia? It last earned a point in 2011. How about Djibouti? It has won just one game since 2011. You get the picture? That is the team that Nigeria faces in Victoria!

But let's give Seychelles some credit. Seychelles has certainly upset "Giants" previously. In 2004, Seychelles beat Zimbabwe in an AFCON qualifier 2-1 in Victoria and in 2006, the team upset Zambia with a 1-1 draw away in a 2006 World Cup qualifier. Seychelles will be hoping for a similar result against Nigeria. Even a close loss at home to Nigeria may be celebrated in Victoria. Make no mistake about that and deservedly so but for it to happen will be a monumental surprise and upset.

One thing for sure is that the 10,000 capacity stadium in Victoria will be filled and that will be almost half of the persons who live in the capital city Victoria.

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