Nutmeg 12-11-2025

Guardian Nigeria

2 hours ago

Transcript

00:00The Super Eagles of Nigeria begin their journey into the 2026 World Cup playoffs with their first

00:17auto being against Gabon and their star player Pierre Omrik Aubameyang. Now here's a preview of

00:23the show right here on The Guardian TV. My name is Armide Daniels. I welcome you to the return of the show.

00:30And it's an important week for the Super Eagles of Nigeria. Make no mistake about it because they'll

00:38face Gabon on Thursday in the semi-final playoff of the World Cup and then if they defeat Gabon

00:44they will proceed to face either of DR Congo that is the Democratic Republic of Congo or Cameroon

00:51depending on who wins the tie between these two African teams. It's all about securing a place

00:57in the Intercontinental Playoffs and the Super Eagles must produce the goods in these two games

01:04potentially. I'm joined here by Kay to talk about an interesting week ahead and Kay, great to have you

01:09on the show. Always a pleasure, Armide. I'm good to be back. Most certainly. And first, the game against

01:14Gabon. The Super Eagles, just like we said during the qualifying campaign, the group games,

01:20this one also is a must win. I think there's added emphasis on this one. Yeah. Because if you lose

01:28against Gabon, you can just kiss the entire qualifying campaign goodbye, just like in a flash in your face,

01:34it's over. But then against Gabon, they look like a tricky test, but they have a certain peer,

01:40omaric, or Bamiyang. How do the Super Eagles of Nigeria, how does Eric Cho go about leading his team

01:47out and setting them up against Gabon? All right. All right. You know, we must also acknowledge the fact

01:51that the Super Eagles, I think to a reasonable extent, what we should have done earlier, we are now,

01:57you know, trying to make amends for him right now. But fine. I will still commend Eric, you know,

02:01for what he has been able to do, you know, when he's coming. And as a stand, we must win Gabon.

02:08Or the whole effort we are trying to put in, the late mathematical setup and all that,

02:14it's all going to go to waste. But then, I think I want to trust the guys, I mean, the Super Eagles

02:19players, to get this over the line. And when you overcome the first hurdle in Gabon and, you know,

02:26Aubameyang, that we can face whoever, or, you know, comes through between Cameroon and DR Congo.

02:33These two guys as well. Who do you think is favorite? Cameroon, DR Congo? They have a good

02:38team, by the way. I must say, yeah. They maybe are not the biggest name on the continent,

02:42but maybe Cameroon sounds more like a titan. Like an old, old-fashioned name. Exactly.

02:47But these days, the names doesn't win the game, you know. Of course, it's African football.

02:50Yeah, you have to just put it there. Like you mentioned, DR Congo, they are a team that you

02:54are not just so sure. You cannot really say, oh, this is the star player. Anyone can hurt you.

02:59They have incredible players. Yeah. So, as it stands, I'm not so keen on saying,

03:02this is a person's favorite to win this. And I'm talking about the game between Cameroon and DR Congo.

03:07I think it's whoever really wants to get that ticket that is going to win that one. But for Super

03:13Eagles, it's a must win against Gabon. Getting the all-important one, they'll be facing whoever

03:18overcomes. Okay, let's pitch post-strikers now. I'm talking about the game between Nigeria and Gabon.

03:23Victor Olsen has been fantastic, not too short of it. Excellent.

03:27Even in the Champions League, he's now dominating. And he's showing his class on the biggest of the

03:32stages. But Pierre-Omerick Aubameyang as well, playing for Marseille, he's doing well. In 14

03:38games, he's got 10 goals and assists. Contribution. 10 goals, contributions. So that, of course,

03:45counts in itself. Yeah. And that has to be the focus for the Super Eagles defense, to try to put in,

03:53you know, just hold whatever you can do. Make sure that you stifle his influence on the game.

03:58Yes. You know, we are looking at two world, I mean, African player of the year at the past, you know,

04:04Aubameyang and, of course, Osima. And these are players that they've done their mark on the game.

04:09And we all know that we cannot rule them out. Aubameyang, yes, you can say, okay,

04:13our age is, you know, coming up and he's looking like he's getting hold. But yet, the effort is still

04:19there. And as a stand, we cannot be complacent. We cannot say, oh, Aubameyang is not getting hold.

04:26Those kind of players can hurt you anytime. Absolutely. But coming about the experience

04:29will always count. Yes. And for Osima, yes, like you mentioned, what an excellent form he's in,

04:34you know, right from the qualifiers down to Galatasaray in the Champions League at the biggest

04:38stage. I'm so happy for him because we were here contemplating on his move in the summer,

04:43you know, with the whole saga with Napoli. But, you know, I think, like we said then,

04:46that the environment you have also contributes to health. And I think Galatasaray has been really

04:52welcoming, you know, the fans right from while he was on loan. Those are some of the things that

04:56is enabling his play right now. He's building with confidence. And I'm sure that we're going to be

05:02seeing the same energy, you know, as he's been putting in the past few games, also in that game.

05:07Okay, just before we go, we'll do two things. So it matters how Eric Sekuchel prepares the team

05:14mentally going into this fixture. What should he be, what kind of effort should he be putting into

05:20that now? Because this is, this is, it's the kind of game you call a crunch clash. Yeah. You just

05:26have to win. So how should he be preparing the players ahead of Thursday and potentially Sunday?

05:31Yeah, like we know, it is a, it is a win. It is a win situation. You cannot draw this. It's a

05:38playoff. You can't. You can't. So I think if you draw, you have to go all the way to penalties because

05:42you have to qualify. Someone wants to win. It's the semi-finals. It's a knockout. Yes, it's a knockout.

05:46That's what. So in this kind of game, I believe that Cheo will look at the mentality that, okay, guys,

05:53we have, we have overcome a big order, you know, at least having a foot in, in the playoff. That is,

06:00it's, it's a foot in. But yes, how do we get this over the line? The job is not done. It's only done.

06:05And even, mind you, I think I'm going to be comparing this whole process to whoever misses

06:11the, the, the, the call. When you say the call, I mean, you know, I don't know. But it's like,

06:17you cannot miss this. Yes. You cannot miss this. So you have to win. The mentality has to be,

06:21let's go for this, guys. And in terms of the predictions, let's get this done. I'm confident

06:25that the Super Eagles, I am confident we will win this. You will just put it down to win. Yes,

06:29we will win this. And I'm seeing the Super Eagles at least scoring two goals, at least.

06:35Okay. Case is the Super Eagles scoring two goals. And how many do you see Victor Oseman scoring?

06:41Potentially also Pierre, Omerick, Aubameyang. What kind of influence or do you think the Super

06:46Eagles defense is good enough to stifle his influence in that game? We'll see on Thursday

06:52how it goes and potentially the game between DR Congo and Cameroon. Keep an eye on that as well,

06:58ahead of the potential playoff final on Sunday. Thank you very much for watching this edition of the

07:05Nutmeg. You can be part of the community here by hitting the subscribe button and also tap the

07:09notification bell to get all our latest content. Tell us your predictions in the comment sections

07:14across social media as well. We are Guardia Nigeria on all platforms. My name is Amelie Daniels indeed.

07:20Thank you very much, Kay, for being a part of the show. Always a pleasure. And I'll see you next time. Bye for now. Bye, guys.

07:25Bye, guys.

07:37Bye.

07:39Bye.

07:43Bye.

07:45Bye.

07:47Bye.

07:49Bye.

07:51Bye.

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