AS the zero hour approaches swiftly for the African Cup of Nations in Egypt, Super Eagles coach Austin Eguavoen has confessed that the result of the first match against Black Stars of Ghana would determine how far the Eagles would go. Nigeria?s rivalry with Ghana would be on display in the Pharoah?s land and the Ghanaians have vowed that Nigeria would not stop them from becoming the first country to win the Cup five unprecedented times.

Eguavoen who stepped into the shoes of the Eagles left by former Coach Christian Chukwu would be properly assessed by his performance in the Nations Cup.

Moments after Angola spoiled the fun of the Eagles routing Zimbabwe 5-1 in their last World Cup qualifier to deny the Eagles from qualifying, Eguavoen promised that the Eagles would win the Cup to make up for their World Cup miss. But yesterday, the coach said that the match against Ghana would determine how well they would do in the Nations Cup. ?Our group is tight but I know that the first match against Ghana will go a long way in determining how well we do in the Nations Cup. Victory will be alright for us but a draw will not be totally bad?, Eguavoen said. But, former Ghanaian FA Chairman Ben Koufi has said that no team would deny the Black Stars from becoming the first African team to win the Nations Cup five times.

?We have been away but will show the stuff we are made of in Egypt and Germany. I don?t think there is any team that will deny us the opportunity of making history in Egypt?. He also predicted that the Black Stars would qualify for the second round of the World Cup?.