Nigeria and Cameroon bosses play charm card ahead of Cup of Nations last-16 tie

Nigeria head coach José Peseiro and his Cameroon counterpart Rigobert Song on Friday hailed the quality of each other's squads as they prepared to clash in the last-16 at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

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Rigobert Song, who won the Cup of Nations twice with Cameroon as a player, took over as head coach in February 2022. © Thomson Reuters

Nigeria advanced to Saturday night's showdown in second place with seven points from a pool containing hosts Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea Bissau and Equatorial Guinea while Cameroon needed two late goals against Gambia in the final game to emerge as runners-up with four points from Group C.

But despite their travails, Peseiro refused to minimise the threat in Saturday's tie. 

"We are a big team and we are playing a big team," said the Portuguese.

"You know what you need to do against such teams. You must play with the same enthusiasm, the same demand, commitment, focus and massive sacrifice."

Song, who won the Cup of Nations twice with Cameroon, spoke glowingly about his side's impending adversaries.

"Nigeria are a good, solid team. They're serious. We're going to have to correct the mistakes we've been making and deploy all our resources to get the result."

Cameroon are seeking a sixth continental crown and will play the match at the Stade Félix Houphouet-Boigny in Abidjan where the country won its first Cup of Nations in 1984 after beating Nigeria 3-1. Two more triumphs in 1988 and 2000 have come at the expense of Nigeria.

Challenge

"It's a new generation," said Song. "And it's in a period of contrstuction and it's true they must copy the history of their elders. It's a great occasion to be playing in a stadium where there's a lot of history for our nation."

Song, who took over from Toni Conceição in Feburary 2022, has faced criticism during the tournament for overseeing a porous defence. His side let in six goals in their three pool matches - three of them against Senegal.

"We'll find the formula not to concede and score more than the opponents," Song promised.

Peseiro's course to the last-16 has also been beset by barbs that his  excessively negative tactics fail to exploit the explosive talents of Victor Osimhen, one of the world's most prized strikers.

"Our team has been creating opportunities ... more than the opponents," insisted Peseiro.

"Our team is in a good way and there is no need to change. We are not conceding and we are creating opportunities.

"We've only scored one goal in all three games but we've only let in one goal in those three games."

The winner will take on either Angola or Namibia who play on Saturday afternoon in Bouaké.

Namibia are appearing in the knockout stages for the first time while Angola have not featured in the second phase since 2010 in Angola when the tournament was a 16-team event.