Sebastien Bassong asks questions of AFCON ‘favourites’ Nigeria

By Mazola Molefe
7th February 2024

Nigeria have been labelled AFCON favourites, but former Tottenham Hotspur defender Sebastien Bassong has questioned whether The Super Eagles can keep up their hot streak.

Bassong was asked about his thoughts on the semifinal clash between Nigeria and Bafana Bafana in Bouaké tonight.

READ: PSL continues to get more praise at the AFCON through Bafana Bafana's exploits

He believes one of the challenges for players at this stage of the tournament is fatigue.

''The more you're in the competition, the more tired you will be. My question is, how long can you hold on to that - can you maintain and reinvent yourself? That's my message to Nigeria. I like the way they've been defending, they have been solid and they score the goals,'' said Bassong

Nigeria have kept four clean sheets from the five matches they’ve played so far, proving to be quite the defensive unit that Bassong argues can win you games.

The 37-year-old does not dismiss Bafana though, giving coach Hugo Broos immense credit for getting the team this far.

''As we've said many times, the attacking force will win you games but defense wins you titles. But South Africa's strength is their coach, with the experience that he has, he's won the AFCON before with Cameroon.''

''And just looking at the team's togetherness, they know each other very well, almost 10 or 11 players play in the same team - you can't beat that,'' added Bassong.

The other semifinal in Abidjan sees hosts Cote d’Ivoire take on their neighbours DRC at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in the later kick-off.

Bassong explains why he believes The Elephants have an edge as the home team.

''Every record is going to be broken. Ivory coast has been dead and buried, but came out alive. When you go through that - what can you be scared about, now they are back even though they have not produced anything good enough technically, but they have this extra factor playing at home which makes them dangerous,'' he concluded.

When assessing DRC, a side that has only won a single game in open play to get to the semifinals, Bassong insists they have to be switched on throughout the match to stand a chance at causing an upset.