AFCON 2021 Favourites: Nigeria Seeks Perfect Group Finish
Despite travelling without the majority of their strikers, Nigeria is now AFCON 2021 favourites.
Nigeria will be going into the final group match against Guinea-Bissau as group leaders and tournament favourite.
The status is a sharp contrast to permutations before the start of the AFCON for the super eagles.
The prediction by STATS PERFORM says Nigeria is the Likely winner with an 18.9% chance.
Morroco is next with a 14.1% chance, and Senegal with a 13.4 % chance.
STATS PERFORM’s analysis is built on a complete analysis of all the matches at the AFCON as of January 17th.
Nigeria earned the new status by beating Egypt one-nil and Sudan 3-1 in their first two group games.
Before the start of AFCON 2021, Algeria and Senegal were the favourites.
The two countries are the two losing finalists from Egypt 2019 AFCON.
But, Algeria is yet to score in two games and face a task to make it to the next round.
Meanwhile, Senegal scored just once in 3 games, and it was not even from open play.
Also, the Guinea Bissau game offers Eguavoen an opportunity to aim for a perfect group stage finish.
In Egypt 2006, Cerezo led Nigeria to the first perfect group stage finish, defeating Ghana, Senegal and Zimbabwe along the way.
Eguavoen will be hoping that a perfect finish in 2021 will bring a better medal than the bronze from Egypt 2016.