Hello and welcome to The Athletic’s live coverage of this afternoon’s heavyweight clash in the Africa Cup of Nations between Nigeria and Egypt.
No side has won more AFCON titles than Egypt with seven, while Nigeria can offer four wins of their own, with the most recent coming in 2013.
Egypt reached the final in 2017, but aren’t hugely fancied this time around — although with arguably the world’s best player in their XI, they are still a real danger. Mohammed Salah was not a part of the Egypt squad in the late 2000s that won three tournaments in a row — and will be desperate to secure his country their first title since 2010.
Nigeria’s squad may have less star talent than Egypt, but they still boast real depth. Premier League talent is represented by players including Leicester’s Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi, plus Everton’s Alex Iwobi.
Team news
Nigeria’s squad was dealt a major blow before the tournament when in-form Watford striker Emmanuel Dennis was left out for administrative reasons. A late email from Nigeria’s federation meant that Watford could block his call-up. Napoli’s Victor Osimhen was also forced to withdraw after failing to recover from a facial fracture.
Two Egypt players — goalkeeper Mohamed Abo-Gabal and winger Ibrahim Adel — are out with COVID-19 while left-back Mohamed Hamdi is out with a knee injury.
Nigeria vs Egypt channel
In the UK, the game will be shown on Sky Sports Premier League, Football and Main Event, plus the Sky Go app.
In the United States, you can find coverage on Fanatiz or beIN Sports.
Nigeria vs Egypt kick-off time
The match kicks-off at 16.00 UK time — that’s 11.00 ET in the United States.
Background reading
AFCON 2021 guide: The storylines, the underdogs and the games you won’t want to miss
Salah, Mane and Firmino all have 18 months left on their Liverpool contracts. So who stays and who goes?
AFCON 2021: ‘I didn’t even know if Comoros had a national team’
(Photo: DANIEL BELOUMOU OLOMO/AFP via Getty Images)
Discussion about this post