Nigeria vs Cameroon live updates: Africa Cup of Nations team news ...

Andre Onana wasdropped to the bench for Cameroon’s crucial Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) group-stage fixture against The Gambia.

Onana missed his nation’s opening AFCON game against Guinea on January 15 after arriving late to the tournament, having played for Manchester United against Tottenham Hotspur the day before.

The goalkeeper did then start Cameroon’s second match — a 3-1 defeat to Group C leaders Senegal. But Fabrice Ondoa — who deputised for Onana in the 1-1 draw against Guinea — made his second start in the tournament against The Gambia and could start again tonight.

This is not the first time Onana has had difficulties with Cameroon at a major international tournament. Dive deeper with our piece by Mario Cortegana and Ali Humayun below.

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Cameroon’s Andre Onana dropped to bench for AFCON match against The Gambia

The off-field politics surrounding Cameroon’s goalkeeper Andre Onana and FA president Samuel Eto’o is a fascinating plotline in African football’s ongoing telenovela.

Sources close to Onana, 27, claim he retired from international football in 2022 after a disagreement with Eto’o, who he considers his ‘footballing father’, and after his return the pair are no longer on speaking terms at international camps.

Watching Eto’o bark tactical orders from the stands while manager Rigobert Song stands on the touchline, with Manchester United’s No 1 goalkeeper potentially benched again for his cousin Fabrice Ondoa, who plays in France’s second division, is an eye-opening snapshot into Cameroonian football.

More on that shortly...

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Playing for Cape Verde sounds brilliant. Granted, the team from a tiny collection of 10 islands, around 400 miles off the coast of west Africa, are not the best in the world. In fact, they are the 73rd-best team in the world if you’re going by the FIFA men’s rankings.

They have never qualified for a World Cup, but are competing in their fourth Africa Cup of Nations. They qualified for this edition rather handily and hope to equal or even better their performance in 2013, when they reached the quarter-finals.

But it’s not their quality that makes it seem so appealing, it’s listening to the players talk with such warmth about the experience of being part of the squad.

Which is, in part, because Cape Verde have perhaps the most ‘international’ of all the 32 teams assembling in Ivory Coast. Their 25 players are gathered from 25 different clubs playing in 16 different countries. It's a genuine family.

Read more about it below...

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Twenty-five players from 25 clubs: How it feels to play for Cape Verde’s ‘united nations’

Victor Osimhen had a quarter of an hour to prove himself. It was 2014, he was 15 and playing for Ultimate Strikers Academy, a youth team based in Lagos. Or rather, he wasn’t playing: he had just been dropped.

Then a scout called Shira Ayila — brother of former Nigeria international Ayila Yussuf — who had watched Osimhen play and saw something in the tall, gangly forward, invited him to take part in some mass trials for the under-17 national team.

The trials were in Abuja, the nation’s capital and more than 300 miles away. Osimhen had never even left Lagos before, and certainly couldn’t afford a plane ticket. So he and five others squeezed into Ayila’s car and drove for 10 uncomfortable hours to get there.

There were hundreds of hopefuls at the trials, so many that each player was only given 15 minutes to show what they could do. Osimhen did brilliantly. He scored twice in his 15 minutes. Still, Amunike wasn’t particularly impressed. But someone — accounts differ as to who exactly — had a word. It was the start of his journey.

Read more with Nick Miller's brilliant piece below!

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The Victor Osimhen story: His difficult childhood in Nigeria and the 15 minutes that saved career

When Nigeria opened their Africa Cup of Nations campaign against Equatorial Guinea, William Troost-Ekong was looking for success in two different ways.

First, progress on the pitch — but there is another benefit that would come with any run deep into the knockout stages.

Troost-Ekong, 30, is wearing a boot made from corn waste, sugarcane, bamboo and other sustainable materials, the first time in a major tournament a footballer has opted for the environmentally conscious choice.

He cites an increased awareness of human-induced climate change and its impact on football, as well as a hope to leave a better future for his three young children, as reasons for his interest.

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Nigeria’s Troost-Ekong on making history at AFCON with first sustainable boot

Cameroon, meanwhile, endured a tricky group stage.

They drew 1-1 against ten-man Guinea first up and lost 3-1 against an admittedly strong Senegal side.

Then, in their final group match, they were 1-0 up against minnows Gambia, conceded two late goals to put them on the brink of an exit, before two stoppage-time goals saw them win 3-2 in a thrilling, dramatic denouement.

The Indomitable Lions finished second in Group C, only ahead of Guinea on goals scored, and their reward is facing Nigeria today.

Egypt is one of those jobs where it can be beneficial to ride the expectation by ramping it up. “The entire team has only one goal,” head coach Rui Vitoria admitted at the start of the tournament. “To be crowned champions.”

If that happens, it will arguably have greater historical implications for star man Mohamed Salah than it will for the country he represents. While Egypt has seven AFCON titles, the most in the competition’s history, their most recent three (2006, 2008, and 2010) were won immediately before Salah’s international career took off in 2011.

This means he has inherited an expectation that he had nothing to do with. With Salah having been a losing finalist twice (2017, 2021), AFCON remains the one big hole in his glittering CV.

Though his goals would lead Egypt to only its third World Cup appearance in 2018, AFCON might hold greater meaning in the country because it is a tournament Egypt can win and has won so many times. Would delivering this trophy change the way people feel about him? Dive deeper below.

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Is Mohamed Salah really a hero for the whole of Africa?

In 2022, Ivory Coast striker Sebastien Haller was asked if he would prefer to stay with his title-chasing Dutch club Ajax to start the year rather than go to the Africa Cup of Nations. His response was to the point.

“This question shows the disrespect for Africa,” he said.

“Would this question ever get asked to a European player ahead of the Euros? Of course I am going to the Africa Cup.”

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Why AFCON matters

Nigeria began the group stage with a 1-1 draw against Equatorial Guinea, then beat hosts Ivory Coast 1-0 thanks to a penalty from captain William Troost-Ekong and then edged past Guinea-Bissau 1-0 after an unfortunate Opa Sangante own goal.

It was enough to finish second in the group behind Equatorial Guinea, also on seven points, but behind the Equatoguineans on goal difference.

Given the struggles of other big nations crashing out (Algeria, Ghana, etc) qualifying automatically, even in second, is not to be sniffed at.

“We see potential spies and enemies everywhere,” says David. “It can be at border control or it can be in a cafe. The other day, a guy was looking at me strangely, so I left without finishing my breakfast, and jumped in a taxi — asking the driver to take me to the wrong address.”

David is an Eritrean footballer, a refugee who thinks government agents are still watching him even though he fled the country a long time ago and is now thousands of miles away. He felt like his future was being stolen from him yet insists he was one of the lucky ones.

Though he recognises the importance of telling at least part of his story, he is thin on detail at times because the conversation makes him feel nervous. When he speaks to The Athletic, he talks quietly. He does not want anyone to hear what he is saying.

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The footballers who escaped one of the most dangerous countries on Earth

The Stade Alassane Ouattara in Ebimpe, which has been called the most advanced football arena in Africa, looks like a spaceship, one that was landed incongruously on the red earth of semi-rural Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s de-facto capital.

It is not a machine-beast, lumpen or identikit, but an architectural wonder with subtleties, such as a roof that curves and swoops around its giant bowl like an ocean wave or a skateboard rink. Below, enormous coliseum-style pillars support a fascia that includes latticing reflective of the Ivory Coast’s tricolour flag.

But the truth is that this stadium is here because of cash flowing directly from Beijing. And so, for all the national fervour being stirred here on Africa’s west coast, this has become an AFCON for China as much as it is for Ivory Coast.

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Ivory Coast, China and the murky truth behind AFCON’s most high-tech stadium

Welcome to The Radar — Africa Cup of Nations edition. Below is a guide to the 24 players we think you should pay particularly close attention to.

There are eight superstars — globally renowned players from some of the biggest African footballing nations. There are eight key men — vital figures within the squads of some of the lesser-fancied nations. And then there are eight players classed as the next ‘big thing’ — all of them aged 24 or younger and each with the talent to be breakout stars.

Sixteen writers from across The Athletic have contributed a total of more than 10,000 words. But don’t be daunted — the beauty of The Radar is you can digest it in bitesize chunks if you prefer, perhaps dipping into it to check out which players to look out for in a particular match when the time comes.

A mid-season Africa Cup of Nations is always a treat — we hope that our first AFCON Radar helps you enjoy it even more.

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The Radar – The Athletic’s scouting guide to the Africa Cup of Nations

Seven nations have won the Africa Cup of Nations multiple times: