Emmanuel Adebayor hasbeen very vocal about his Nigerian roots. To this effect, it was hardly surprising that he called on the Super Eagles of Nigeria to beat Tunisia in their round of 16 clash at the AFCON tournament on Cameroonian soil.
In a light chat with media personnel Mimi Fawazheld just before the Tunisia game last month in the company of former Super Eagles player Daniel Amokachi, Emmanuel Adebayor showed his support for the Super Eagles as he established that he has Nigeria flowing in his blood. The ex-Real Madrid and Manchester City striker said that his parents are originally from Nigeria and that he’s Nigeria despite representing Togo at international football level. He went on to say that the Super Eagles should win for him if they don’t want to win the Tunisia game for themselves. In the end, Emmanuel Adebayor and other Nigerians were left in a state of disappointment after the team lost 1-0 to the Tunisians.
The Super Eagles began the tournament well with the 1-0 win over the Pharaohs of Egypt. Leicester City striker Kelechi Iheanacho scored the only goal of the game on the hour mark to give Nigeria a perfect start in their opening game in Group D. The team went on to finish their group stage campaign with a perfect record after seeing off Sudan and Guinea-Bissau in their remaining Group D games. Nigeria recorded a 3-1 win over Sudan before beating Guinea-Bissau 2-0.
Three-time African champions Nigeria were the only team to finish the group stage with nine points from three games amongst the 24 teams at the tournament in Cameroon. They fell by the way side at the first hurdle in the knockout stage of the tournament thanks to the defeat at the hands of the Tunisians. Youssef Msakni scored the only goal of the game to take Tunisia into the quarterfinals.