By Olayinka Elebute
Nigeria football will renew his old rivalries with his next door neighbor Benin Republic as they both start their Journey to the 2021 Nations Cup to be hosted by Cameroon who were the denied the right of last Nations Cup hosted by Egypt.
Nigeria will be striving to make a strong start to their qualifying campaign against Benin who have gained great confidence from how they competed at the last edition of 2019 Africa Cup of Nations finals where they reached the quarter-finals. Benin proved to be stubborn opposition during that run to the last eight but they may lack the firepower to respond against the 3 times Nations Cup winners Nigeria.
Speaking with Gongnews.net on arrival a member of the Beninoise national team Tidjani Anane who plies his trade with Esperance du Tunis on loan to As Soliman of Tunisia said they are really prepared to come against the 3 times African Champions saying “we respect Nigeria but remember football is beyond name and minor don’t play the game anymore” he enthused
“We are we prepared for the game, our experience at the last Nations Cup will be to our advantage and looking at our team we have young players who more experienced to stand the heat in Nigeria and our Coach Michel Dussuyer is more experience on the continent”
‘So we are not afraid of playing Nigeria and our plans is to shock the team here in Nigeria and we are more determined to do that and that’s our focus’
Anaane who has played for the “Les Ecureuils” as the Beninoise are known made his debut for the Benin national football team in a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification 2-1 win over Togo on 27 March 2019.
The Beninoise team will be aiming for their fifth Nations Cup appearance in Cameroon, after posting their best ever outing in the last Nation Cup in Egypt were they reached the quarter-finals.