Who<\/strong>: Nigeria vs Mozambique Fun, flair and fragility sum up Nigeria\u2019s ongoing campaign at AFCON 2025.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n As the tournament\u2019s leading attacking force, Nigeria have laid down an early marker as title contenders but while the West Africans boast impressive squad depth, they still need to shore up a leaky defence.<\/p>\n The Super Eagles have moved on swiftly from the heartbreak of missing out on the FIFA World Cup and have been flying high in Morocco on the back of a talented squad featuring Ademola Lookman, Raphael Onyedika, Victor Osimhen and Alex Iwobi.<\/p>\n As one of only two teams to maintain a perfect group-stage record, the former champions now face Mozambique, who for the first time advanced\u00a0past the group stage, for a place in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n Ranked 102nd in the world, Mozambique are up for a historic knockout appearance, facing the daunting task of taking on a side ranked 74 places above them.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s everything you need to know about Nigeria vs Mozambique:<\/p>\n The African powerhouse soared into the knockouts as the table toppers of Group C, registering victories over Tunisia, Uganda and Tanzania. Nigeria were the first team to reach the last 16 with a 100 percent record.<\/span><\/p>\n Mozambique advanced as one of the four best third-placed sides. The Mambas lost two Group F games and won one, against Gabon, which ended their 40-year wait for a victory at the continental tournament. They are making their first appearance in AFCON\u2019s knockout stages.<\/p>\n The winner of the Nigeria and Mozambique match will travel to Marrakesh to face the winner of the Algeria and Democratic Republic of the Congo match in the quarterfinal\u00a0on January 10.<\/p>\n With two goals and two assists, forward Lookman has been one of Nigeria\u2019s standout players at the tournament. The 28-year-old was the architect of the team\u2019s victories in their opening two games, equally influential as both a playmaker and a finisher.<\/p>\n Rested for the final group match, Lookman is expected to come out all guns blazing against their East African opponents.<\/p>\n Midfielder Onyedika, who scored twice in the last match, is another key contributor while Iwobi has been pulling the strings in the midfield, and striker Osimhen remains one of the most feared attackers in the competition.<\/p>\n Winger Geny Catamo has scored two of Mozambique\u2019s four goals at the tournament and has been central to their historic qualification. Forward Faisal Bangal and right back Diogo Calila have also found the net.<\/p>\n Nigeria<\/strong>: W-W-W-L-L<\/p>\n Mozambique<\/strong>: L-W-L-L-D<\/p>\n Nigeria and Mozambique have met in five previous encounters across competitive and friendly games.<\/p>\n Nigeria dominate the head-to-head record with four wins and a draw.<\/p>\n The teams last met in a friendly in Albufeira, Portugal, in October 2023 when Nigeria won 3-2.<\/p>\n Monday\u2019s game will be their second meeting at AFCON. Their previous AFCON encounter came in the final group game of the 2010 edition when Nigeria ran out 3-0 winners.<\/p>\n This is Nigeria\u2019s 16th successive appearance in the knockout rounds, having last failed to progress beyond the group stage in 1982.<\/p>\n Nigeria are three-time AFCON champions, having lifted the trophy in 1980, 1994 and 2013.<\/p>\n They also finished as runners-up five times. This is their 21st appearance at the continental championship.<\/p>\n No. This is their sixth appearance at the tournament, and the 2025 edition already marks their best finish.<\/p>\n Cyriel Dessers, who is yet to feature, and Ryan Alebiosu, who made his debut in the previous game, are both ruled out through injury. Their absence is unlikely to have a major impact because neither is a regular starter.<\/p>\n Coach Eric Chelle could retain Onyedika in midfield after his brace in the last game, which earned him the player of the match award.<\/p>\n Stanley Nwabili (goalkeeper); Bright Osayi-Samuel, Semi Ajayi, Calvin Bassey, Bruno Onyemaechi; Samuel Chukwueze, Wilfred Ndidi, Onyedika, Iwobi; Osimhen, Lookman<\/p>\n Mozambique will be without Calila, who was taken off in the last game after only 15 minutes due to an injury. Nene, who scored an own goal against Cameroon, is also injured.<\/p>\n Ivane Urrubal (goalkeeper); Infren Nani, Mexer, Reinildo Mandava, Bruno Langa; Guima, Manuel Kambala; Catamo, Elias Pelembe, Witi; Bangal<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Who: Nigeria vs MozambiqueWhat:\u00a0CAF Africa Cup of NationsWhere: Fez Stadium in Fez, MoroccoWhen: Monday at 8pm (19:00 GMT)How to follow: We\u2019ll have all the build-up on\u00a0Al Jazeera Sport from 16:00 GMT in advance of our text commentary stream. Fun, flair and fragility sum up Nigeria\u2019s ongoing campaign at AFCON 2025. Recommended Stories list of 3 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
What<\/strong>:\u00a0CAF Africa Cup of Nations
Where<\/strong>: Fez Stadium in Fez, Morocco
When<\/strong>: Monday at 8pm (19:00 GMT)
How to follow:<\/strong> We\u2019ll have all the build-up on\u00a0Al Jazeera Sport from 16:00 GMT in advance of our text commentary stream.<\/p>\nRecommended Stories <\/h2>\n
How did Nigeria reach the round of 16?<\/h2>\n
How did Mozambique reach the round of 16?<\/h2>\n
Who will the winner face in the next round?<\/h2>\n
![\"Fez](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AFP__20251227__894Q2CC__v1__MidRes__FblAfr2025Match17NgaTun-1766857193.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C514&quality=80\")
Who are Nigeria\u2019s best players?<\/h2>\n
Who are Mozambique\u2019s best players?<\/h2>\n
Nigeria and Mozambique form guides<\/h2>\n
\n
Head-to-head<\/h2>\n
When did Nigeria and Mozambique last meet?<\/h2>\n
Nigeria vs Mozambique \u2013 stat attack<\/h2>\n
Have Nigeria ever won an AFCON title?<\/h2>\n
Have Mozambique ever won an AFCON title?<\/h2>\n
Nigeria team news<\/h2>\n
Nigeria\u2019s predicted lineup<\/h2>\n
Mozambique team news<\/h2>\n
Mozambique\u2019s predicted lineup<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"