Femi Solaja in Alexandria
Ahead of the clash between Nigeria and Cameroon on Saturday, hundreds of supporters of the Indomitable Lions have started trooping into the port city of Alexandria for the epic battle.
Nigeria, in the opening three group stage matches of this edition, enjoyed the support of spectatorship because most of the Egyptians still idolize the likes of Nwankwo Kanu, Austin Okocha and many Nigerian ex-internationals. They rooted for Eagles in large percentage. The presence of Nigerian immigrants in Egypt also helped to give Super Eagles the feelings of home support.
But wednesday, a large percentage of Cameroon indigenes started arriving the quiet city in droves and ready to have their fair share of spectatorship at the 20,000 capacity stadium during the epic clash on Saturday.
Many of the Cameroonians dressed in their national colours and exhibited some level of confidence that they will get the best out the match considering the fact that they have beaten the Super Eagles when it mattered most in the history of the competition. Out of five record of winning the cup, three of them were at the expense of Nigeria including the controversial win on penalties in 2000 when Nigeria co-hosted with Ghana.
THISDAY learnt yesterday that the advance party that came in yesterday have started sorting accommodation issues ahead of the arrival of the rest of the supporters that will hit the town on Friday and Saturday afternoon.
“We are coming in batches and our intention is to match your volume of fan-based supporters here. We know we are coming to meet you here and the city is well accustomed to you but we must have our own share of the voice too.
“On Saturday, we want to drum support for our team like never before because it’s going to be a tough match against your team and we hope we triumph over your team just like we have been doing before until recently when you won some matches,” one of them in dreadlocks yelled to some Nigerian fans here in Alexandria.
