Nigeria are expected to be
crowned African football kings a
third time Sunday by bringing
the fairytale run of Burkina Faso
to an end. Man for man, the Super Eagles
look stronger than the Stallions
ahead of the title match at the
85 000-capacity Soccer Stadium
in Soweto, a township on the
south-west outskirts of Johannesburg. The team in green and white can
also expect to enjoy a massive
advantage in support with
thousands of Nigerians working
in the South African financial hub
set to roar on the footballers they adore. Nigeria boast an amazingly
consistent Cup of Nations record
with 13 top-three finishes in 16
previous appearances while
Burkina Faso arrived in South
Africa last month desperate to end a 17-match run without a
victory. While the Super Eagles lifted the
symbol of African national-team
supremacy at home in 1980 and
in Tunisia in 1994, the closest
the Stallions have come is
reaching the semifinals as hosts of the 1998 tournament. They ended the win-less streak
in style by thrashing Ethiopia in
Nelspruit near the famous
Kruger National Park game
reserve, and three of the goals
came after being reduced to 10 men when goalkeeper Abdoulaye
Soulama was red carded. It is a final no one outside of the
two countries could have
imagined with perennial pre-
competition favourites Ivory
Coast, four-time champions
Ghana, hosts South Africa and young, talented Algeria being
strongly backed. Nigeria and Burkina Faso have
already met in this competition,
drawing 1-1 in a Group C opener
with Emmanuel Emenike giving
the Eagles a first half advantage
they held until now-injured Alain Traore levelled deep in stoppage
time. The Eagles also drew with
defending champions Zambia
before victories over Ethiopia,
star-stacked title favourites
Ivory Coast and Mali propelled
them to a final they enter as 1-2 favourites with local
bookmakers. Burkina Faso followed the draw
with Nigeria by whipping Ethiopia,
holding title-holders Zambia and
edging Togo through an extra-
time goal and Ghana on penalties. Nigeria handler Stephen Keshi,
who hopes to emulate late
Egyptian Mahmoud El Gohary and
win Cup of Nations gold medals
as a player and a coach, is
taking nothing for granted and reluctantly accepts the
favourites tag. "What we have achieved so far
will not help us come Sunday –
the final is where you have to
prove that you are the best
team in Africa and worthy of the
gold medals," he stressed. "My team is still growing as I am
in the building phase. There is a
lot of talent at my disposal but
you cannot compare this side
with the great team of 1994
which I had the honour to captain." Key figures in the Nigerian class
of 2013 include goalkeeper
Vincent Enyeama, centre-backs
Godfrey Oboabona and Kenneth
Omeruo, midfielders John Obi
Mikel and Victor Moses and four- goal joint leading competition
scorer Emenike. Moses from English Premier
League outfit Chelsea gave Mali
defenders dizzy spells in the
semifinal with his pace and
footwork trickery and
neutralising his threat must be a priority for Burkina Faso coach
Paul Put. The 56-year-old hoping to
become the first Belgian coach of
a Cup of Nations-winning team
has worked miracles using 16 of
the 23 players who lost all three
group games at the 2012 tournament in Gabon/Equatorial
Guinea. "We have grown, and so have
Nigeria, with each game and our
initial aim of achieving a win to
end that terrible record is now a
distant memory. Now we must
analyse our opponents and see what we can do," said Put. Stars like goalkeeper Daouda
Diakite, defenders Bakary Kone
and Paul Koulibaly, midfielders
Charlos Kabore, Djakaridja Kone
and Jonathan Pitroipa and
striker Aristide Bance have found a new lease of life under
the Belgian. "Paul is the difference between
this year and last year,"
explained Bance from German
club Augsburg, a star against
Ghana and instantly recognisable
with his mop of dyed spaghetti- style hair. Apart from a $1.5 million (1,2
million euros) first prize, the
African champions go to the Fifa
Confederations Cup in Brazil
during June to face Tahiti,
Uruguay and Spain.