The two teams will meet at the Fez Stadium, with the winner advancing to the quarter-finals of the tournament in Morocco.
While the Super Eagles topped their group with victories in all their matches, the Mambas qualified as one of the best third-placed teams.
Eric Chelle’s men enter the game as clear favourites, having won previous encounters against Mozambique. However, the Mambas will be aiming to build on their personal best by advancing further in the knockout stages.
The two sides last met in a friendly on 16 October 2023 in Albufeira, with Nigeria claiming a 3-2 victory thanks to goals from Terem Moffi, Frank Onyeka, and Moses Simon.
No fear of the Super Eagles
Although Mozambique’s captain acknowledges the quality of the Super Eagles squad, he insists that he and his teammates are motivated to pull off an upset.
"The Nigerian team is very powerful but we will not be intimidated by that, we want to go there and compete because football is 90 minutes, anything can happen," Domingues.
"We know the challenges we are going to have; we know we managed to reach another stage and we are in a stage where we are still celebrating our qualification.
"But we know the importance of this game and which type of game it is, and this gives us more strength because we continue dreaming knowing that this is called a season of breakthrough.
"So, we have to do all we can to continue dreaming so we will give it our all."
Despite Nigeria’s impressive performances so far, Eric Chelle’s men have conceded at least one goal in each of their last three matches in the tournament.
Another goal conceded would see them join Cote d’Ivoire (112), DR Congo (108), and Tunisia (102) as the fourth team in AFCON history to have conceded 100 or more goals.
Despite acknowledging Nigeria’s attacking strength, coach Conde insisted that his team would step up and do everything possible to get the job done.
"Nigeria is a very strong team, and we all know they have a long process in building their attack," he said.
"We will do all we can to break down their defence and also ensure their strikers are not able to attack.
"We respect Nigeria. Across generations, they have produced good players and now have top players in Europe.
"Our players will play for the Mozambican flag, and the game will start at 0–0. We know Nigeria is more powerful, but we will see who wants it more."
The winner of this match will face either 2019 African champions Algeria or DR Congo in the quarter-finals.
