The Super Eagles have officially set the gold standard for attacking football at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.....TAP TO CONTINUE READING

Nigeria has rewritten the AFCON 2025 record books with a historic offensive display that should send a warning to every remaining contender in Morocco.

The Super Eagles’ demolition of Mozambique didn’t just secure quarter-final qualification, it established them as the first team in this tournament to score four goals in a single match, cementing their status as the competition’s most feared attacking force.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

With 12 goals across four matches, Nigeria’s scoring rate towers above every competitor at AFCON 2025.

No other nation has managed more than two goals in any single fixture, making the Super Eagles’ four-goal explosion against the Mambas a statistical outlier that highlights the gulf between their offensive capabilities and the rest of the field.

Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman and Akor Adams were on rampage.

The achievement provides concrete evidence of what opponents have been discovering the hard way: when Nigeria clicks going forward, they’re virtually unstoppable.

Victor Osimhen’s brace, Ademola Lookman’s continued brilliance, and Akor Adams’ breakout performance represent an attacking trident that has proven too hot for defenses to handle.

Firepower as Championship Currency

Tournament history suggests defensive solidity wins championships, but Nigeria is challenging that conventional wisdom with overwhelming attacking quality that compensates for occasional defensive vulnerabilities.

Eric Chelle’s side isn’t just outscoring opponents, they’re burying them under avalanches of chances, sustained pressure, and clinical finishing that turns half-chances into goal after goal.

Ademola Lookman showed his class against Mozambique again

The four-goal milestone, one short of what Chelle wanted, against Mozambique wasn’t a fluke; it was the natural culmination of a tactical approach designed to overwhelm rather than outlast.

Before Nigerian fans start measuring for trophy cabinets, the uncomfortable truth must be acknowledged: dominating Mozambique isn’t the same as dismantling Senegal, Morocco, or Ivory Coast.

The Super Eagles have feasted on opponents who lacked the defensive organization, tactical sophistication, or individual quality to weather their attacking storms.

The real test arrives when they face elite teams capable of absorbing pressure, exploiting Nigeria’s defensive lapses, and punishing mistakes with equal ruthlessness.

History is littered with AFCON teams that scored freely against weaker opposition only to freeze when facing championship calibre defenders who understood how to neutralise their threats.

The four-goal record means nothing if it flatters to deceive, a hollow achievement that masks underlying vulnerabilities waiting to be exposed.

Iwobi in action at AFCON

What the Milestone Actually Proves

That said, you can only beat what’s in front of you, and Nigeria has done so with emphatic authority. The four-goal barrier represents more than statistical bragging right, it demonstrates:

Clinical finishing: Nigeria converts chances at a rate no other team has matched

Tactical fluidity: Multiple players contributing goals suggests systematic attacking patterns, not individual brilliance

Psychological momentum: Scoring freely breeds confidence that permeates the entire squad

Depth of talent: Rotation hasn’t diminished offensive output, indicating quality beyond the starting eleven

The Verdict

Nigeria’s Super Eagles have established themselves as AFCON 2025’s offensive benchmark, becoming the first and only team to breach the four-goal mark in a single match.

Their 12-goal tally represents the most potent attacking threat in Morocco, providing statistical ammunition for claims they’re genuine title contenders.

But statistics don’t win knockout tournaments, nerve, defensive discipline, and performing when pressure peaks determine champions. The four-goal milestone proves Nigeria can destroy inferior opposition.

Whether they can maintain that firepower against elite defenders who won’t crumble after 25 minutes remains the million-dollar question.

The quarter-finals will provide answers. Until then, every remaining team in Morocco knows one undeniable truth: when the Super Eagles attack, records fall and dreams shatter.

Just ask Mozambique.

AFCON 2025: Six countries qualify for quarter-finals....TAP TO CONTINUE READING

By the end of Monday night, six countries qualified for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals.

Nigeria became the latest team to book their spot in the next round, following a 4-0 thrashing of Mozambique in Fez.

Ademola Lookman and Akor Adams’ goals were sandwiched by Victor Osimhen’s brace, as the Mambas were eliminated from the tournament.

The Super Eagles are now the only team in the competition that has won their first four matches.

Nigeria will now take on either the Democratic Republic of Congo or Algeria in the last eight.

The other countries in the quarter-finals are Egypt, South Africa, Senegal, Mali and hosts Morocco.

Enzo Maresca is interested in replacing Ruben Amorim as the manager of Manchester United, sources have told TEAMtalk, with the Italian having departed Chelsea on New Year’s Day, but the club’s director of football, Jason Wilcox, is not putting all his eggs in one basket.....TAP TO CONTINUE READING

Man Utd parted company with Amorim on Monday following his explosive comments about his role at Old Trafford after the 1-1 draw with Leeds United at Elland Road in the Premier League on Sunday.

Amorim said on Sunday: “I just want to say I came here to be the manager, not to be the coach.

“In every department – the scouting department, the sporting director – [they] need to do their job. I will do mine for 18 months, and then we move on.

“I just want to say that I’m going to be the manager of this team, not just the coach. I was really clear on that.

“That is going to finish in 18 months, and then everyone is going to move on. That was the deal. That is my job. Not to be a coach.”

In a quick turn of events, Man Utd have decided to part company with Amorim, with the club already making contact with one of the candidates to replace the Portuguese at Old Trafford.

We can reveal that Maresca’s camp, led by recently appointed super-agent Jorge Mendes, have already had contact with Man Utd as they assess their options.

Sources have told us that Maresca, who himself left Chelsea on January 1 after falling out with the Blues’ owners, is interested in taking charge at Old Trafford.

We understand Man Utd CEO Omar Berrada is an admirer of Maresca stemming back from their time together at Manchester City. Sporting director Jason Wilcox is also understood to be a fan and believes he has the right temperament to succeed under the Old Trafford spotlight.

Man Utd Under-18 head coach Darren Fletcher has been placed in charge of the first team for the Premier League game against Burnley at Turf Moor on Wednesday.

Sources have told us that Man Utd would consider keeping Fletcher until the summer if they thought that was the better way to address the managerial situation in the long term.

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Man Utd have THREE other options – sources

Despite Maresca’s willingness to get back into management and take charge of Man Utd, Wilcox is keeping his options open.

We understand that Wilcox already had a list of options should Amorim leave.

We revealed before Amorim got sacked that Michael Carrick is someone that the Man Utd hierarchy rate highly.

Carrick, a former Man Utd player, has previously been part of the coaching set-up at Old Trafford and could come in on an interim basis in the short term.

Sources have told us that former England manager Gareth Southgate is held in high regard by Man Utd co-owners INEOS, headed by Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

We can confirm that Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna is on Man Utd’s radar, too, though any move for the Northern Irishman is not considered a priority right now.

Wilcox and others at Man Utd are huge admirers of McKenna, who served as a coach at Old Trafford.

Ratcliffe and Berrada will be part of the process of hiring the next Man Utd manager, but the final decision will be Wilcox’s.

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Latest Man Utd transfer news: Man City steam ahead, attacker leaving for good

Meanwhile, sources have told our transfer correspondent, Dean Jones, that Manchester City are now ahead of Man Utd in the race for a top midfielder following the sacking of Ruben Amorim as the manager.

Man Utd are said to be ‘crazy’ about a winger, but he will cost an extraordinary amount in transfer fees.

And finally, Man Utd are ready to offload an attacker for good in the January transfer window.