Head coach of the Gabon National team Thierry Mouyouma has revealed his side have nothing to fear ahead of their World Cup play-off fixture against the Super Eagles, Soccernet.ng reports.
The Panthers were unlucky in the group phase of the World Cup qualifiers as they accrued 25 points from a possible 30 in Group F.
However, they finished a point below the African Champions, Ivory Coast, who were unbeaten through their qualifiers campaign.
As such, Gabon’s fate was relegated to the play-offs if they wanted to achieve their dream of playing at the FIFA World Cup for the very first time.
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Mouyouma’s Gabon ready to battle Super Eagles
Nigeria, since making their World Cup debut in 1994, have never missed out on the Mundial in consecutive editions. The Super Eagles were absent from the 2006 (Germany) and 2022 (World Cups).
Eric Chelle’s side can easily find themselves on the wrong side of history if they lose to a free-scoring Gabon, who’ve found the back of the net 13 times in their last five games.
The Super Eagles currently house two players who have been the best footballers on the planet over the past two years, and while that commands respect from Gabon, their coach has revealed his players have nothing to fear.
“We know that Nigeria, a great African nation, are the favourites, and our status as an outsider suits us very well,” Thierry Mouyouma said in an interview with Afrik Foot.
“Nigeria will have more pressure, which makes sense. But if we respect this team for everything they represent, we don’t fear it.
“We know the value of its workforce, the dangers that are Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman. And I think Nigeria knows us very well.
“We know that to play in the World Cup, you will have to beat the Super Eagles, then DR Congo or Cameroon, and one or two teams in March.
“It is a long journey. We knew it, but these games will advance the team and the technical staff.
“There are big stakes, and emotionally, I prefer that we play games like the one on November 13, like those of the AFCON, than friendly matches,” the 50-year-old continued.
The former Ajax Cape Town defender draws strength from his side’s brilliant qualifying campaign and believes a game against the Super Eagles will be a good test, at least, for the AFCON 2025 tournament in Morocco next month.
“I think I can say that we have achieved a very nice course, taking twenty-five points out of thirty, finishing with a single point behind Côte d’Ivoire, the champions of Africa, and as the best second on the continent.
“We showed good things, beat all our opponents except the Elephants (0-1, 0-0).
“I think that with more realism, we could have imposed ourselves on the return match against the Ivorians.
“But I think we can be proud of our first round. Beating Kenya, Burundi, and the Gambia, especially away from home, is not insignificant,” the Gabon coach concluded.
Nigeria will take on Gabon at the Stade Prince Moulay El Hassan on Thursday, with kickoff slated for 5:00 PM WAT.