New Telegraph 
In two venues, spaced 3,113 kilometres apart, lovers of the sport of football will be following keenly the progress of their respective teams.
In one of the venues (Casablanca, Morocco) a national team will be trying to make up for the heartbreak of missing out on the biggest prize in African football, while in the other (Manchester), a club side will be hoping to show that it’s on the up.
But in both cases, the performances of the footballers will go a long way in either bringing joy or heartache to the millions who support them.
Football, dubbed the ‘beautiful game’ by a former FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, is the one sport that has a truly global mass appeal and stirs passions to high heavens amongst its followers. In fact, it even ignited a full-scale war between two nations – El Salvador and Honduras – in 1969.
However, in Nigeria, while it ignites passions, it has not caused any war; instead it is considered the only pastime which sees us sinking our varied differences to rally behind the men donning our famous green-white-green jerseys.
Those old enough, will recall that some 32 years ago, the impressive performance of our Super Eagles at their maiden World Cup outing at USA’94 played a big part in keeping a lid on the anger boiling after the then Military dictator, General Sani Abacha, had arrested the presumed winner of the 1993 presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola.
Thus, while the Eagles were doing their stuff in America, people kept away from the streets and as soon as the team’s impressive run ended with a 2-1 second round defeat to eventually beaten finalists, Italy, all hell broke out across the land as people protested Abiola’s incarceration.
Although the nation is not in the same situation today, for the past one-month, people have been able to enjoy the ‘feel good’ factor the Eagles have brought which has gone a long way in assuaging their daily struggles in the tough economic climes of the country.
Sadly, the Eagles’ quest for a fourth title hit the rocks on Wednesday night after they lost 4-2 on penalties to the host nation, Morocco.
But this evening, they can still leave the North African nation with some silverware in the form of a bronze medal when they take on the Pharaohs of Egypt. The match, scheduled for the 67, 000-seater Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca at 5pm, pits the three-time winners against the most successful side in the competition.
However, Egypt won the last of its seven titles in 2010 and had hoped to send off one of their greatest players ever, Mohamed Salah, with another one in Morocco.
But this dream was ended also on Wednesday by Salah’s former Liverpool team mate, Sadio Mane whose solitary strike gave Senegal a 1-0 win over the Pharaohs.
Unfortunately, without much at stake, the coaches often field relatively weakened sides in classification matches; which mean fans might not see such household names like Salah, Victor Oshimen, Ademola Lookman and their likes in the evening of Saturday January 17 at 5pm.
But even then, like we often say: “At all at all na him bad” and a bronze medal is still better than no medal; so hopefully, we should still see a decent game, with whichever side triumphs being able to return home with something to celebrate with their fans.
Incidentally, both nations have met 20 times previously with Nigeria holding the edge with nine wins to Egypt’s six and five ending in draws.
Let’s not forget the curtains will fall on the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations with Morocco facing Senegal at the 69, 500-seater Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat at 8 pm on Sunday January 18. Both teams have met 31 times previously with the home nation holding a commanding edge with 18 victories and only seven losses to the Teranga Lions.
The Atlas Lions needed penalties to sink the Teranga Lions in the last meeting between them in the 2024 African Nations Championship semi-finals, which took place at the Mandela National Stadium, in Kampala, Uganda on August 26, 2025.
For Mane and company, tomorrow is an opportunity to add to Senegal’s solitary 2021 triumph while Morocco have to go back 50 years to their own single victory and will stop at nothing to add to this. This should make for an exciting final.
However, anything short of a Moroccan victory will be a major upset! And for club football fans, the North West of England is the focal point as the latest instalment of the 145-year rivalry between the red and blue halves of Manchester plays out.
Old Trafford is the host stadium as seventh placed United will be hosting second placed City in the 175th meeting between the two. Although the Red Devils have traditionally dominated with 68 wins to the Citizens 57, that was mainly in the past with the blue half holding sway in recent times.
In fact, when they last met in the reverse fixture on September 14, City were a comfortable 3-0 winners – but that was when Ruben Amurim was in charge. He has since been replaced by a former great Michael Carrick which millions of United fans will be hoping will give the Red Devils an immediate ‘new coach’ bounce!
Incidentally, it was not all doom and gloom under the former Portuguese handler as he was often able to get his team to raise their game whenever they met the so-called big teams and one such performance was against today’s opponents on December 15, 2024 which fetched his side an upset 2-1 win at the Etihad Stadium.
Unfortunately, these performances were too inconsistent which ultimately led to his dismissal on January 6. Carrick, who had also previously served as an interim coach for three games in 2021, never lost with a decent record of two wins and a draw.
However, today’s game is a very different kettle of fish altogether and the jury will be out to see if INEOS made the right call in getting rid of Amurim.
And things will not get any easier for the 44-year-old, who won 12 trophies during his 12 years as a United under Sir Alex Ferguson, as his next game is against high-flying Arsenal next weekend!
Well, he must have known what he was getting himself into in accepting to lead one of the world’s biggest football teams, and although he will still have some goodwill in the bank, even if his side loses today, things may go south fast if the manner of the defeat is very ugly.
However, for both the Super Eagles and Manchester United, I wish them well and pray that at the end of their encounters, it will be celebrations galore in Nigeria and the red half of Manchester!
