AFCON 2023: Guinea-Bissau’s coach Baciro Candé sends ‘must-win’ message to Nigeria’s Super Eagles

• The Wild Dogs have never won a match at the continental championship
• They are keen on repeating the performance that earned them a win over the former African champions in Abuja last year

Coach of Guinea-Bissau’s national football team, Baciro Candé, has pledged to lead the Djurtus to their first-ever victory at the Africa Cup of Nations in their last Group A game against Nigeria’s Super Eagles on Monday, Soccernet.ng reports. 

Guinea-Bissau are making their fourth appearance at the AFCON, and in their previous 11 games, the Djurtus have recorded three draws and eight defeats.

Nigeria accounted for one of those losses when Umar Sadiq and William Troost-Ekong found the target in a 2-0 win for the Super Eagles at the last edition in Cameroon.

The Wild Dogs have already crashed out of Cote d’Ivoire 2023 after losing 2-0 to the hosts and 4-2 to Equatorial Guinea.

There is only pride and a place in the record books to fight for on Monday when they face a Nigerian team that needs to win to stand a better chance of finishing as Group A winners.

And Baciro Candé, who has engineered each of Guinea-Bissau’s qualifications to the AFCON, is keen on beating Nigeria and recording a historic win for his country.

During the pre-match press conference on Sunday, the 56-year-old admitted that the Super Eagles would be a difficult opponent to defeat, but he vowed his team would do everything to have a good game.

“We are excited to play a good match tomorrow,” Candé told reporters.

“We have one match to close the first phase of the competition, and we will do everything to have a good game tomorrow.”

He added: “It will be difficult, but we will do everything possible tomorrow. We want to have our first AFCON win tomorrow.”

Speaking further, Candé, who oversaw Guinea-Bissau’s surprising 1-0 win over Nigeria in the qualifying phase of the tournament in Abuja, said Guinea-Bissau players are mentally prepared to win tomorrow.

“I trust in my team; we want to have a good performance. Mentally, we are strong; we are here because we are here because we are good. We have a good qualifying phase.

“We know it will be very difficult, but we are prepared to get the win tomorrow,” he said.

A victory for Nigeria will see the Super Eagles emerge as the winners of Group A if Equatorial Guinea fail to beat Cote d’Ivoire in the other group game.