Nigeria have taken on a role long linked to Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations, emerging as the tournament’s leading “giant killers” at AFCON 2023 in Côte d’Ivoire and leaving one big question hanging over the competition: can the Super Eagles go all the way?
The Super Eagles reached the semi-finals after knocking out Cameroon in the Round of 16, then producing another major result by eliminating Angola in the quarter-finals.
Those wins underlined Nigeria’s ability to deal with the biggest occasions, a trait that has often defined Egypt’s historic AFCON runs, where the Pharaohs repeatedly found a way through the hardest ties on their path to the title.
With each round, Nigeria’s momentum has grown, and the team have looked more stable and more difficult to beat, even when the matches have required patience and the smallest of margins.
The run has also reignited the familiar tournament debate: is this the side that peaks at the right time and rides a wave of knockout wins to the trophy, or will the price of these demanding matches show later?
Nigeria’s path has now placed them firmly among the main contenders, and their results against heavyweight opposition have added extra weight to the belief that they can handle whatever comes next.
As AFCON heads into its decisive stage, Nigeria’s story has become one of the tournament’s defining themes—mirroring Egypt’s famous ability to survive the toughest tests, and forcing everyone to ask the same question: is this Nigeria’s year?
