Considered to be one of the favourites to win the rescheduled Total Energies Africa Cup of Nations, expectations ain't exactly great with how things have fared lately in the camp of the Super Eagles.

With barely a week to the commencement of the soccer fiesta in Cameroon, the Eagles' quest for their fourth title appears gloom following first, the untimely sack of former boss Gernot Rohr and the slow arrival of players invited by Interim boss Augustine Equaveon to camp.

For a team looking to put up an impressive showing, having only 15 players in camp as at the time of this article goes against that lofty heights.

The slow arrival of players will surely have an effect on how the Eagles plan to execute not just the high profile first encounter with Seven time champion Egypt but the tourney in General.

Part of blame of players not reporting to camp squarely falls at the doorsteps of the Nigerian Football Federation, whose lack of organization is once again brought to the forefront.

Reports have emerged that letters sent out to clubs, whose players the country has penciled for the AFCON project arrived late, prompting Watford FC of England to hold on to Emmanuel Dennis.

There are also whispers that Saudi outfit Al Shuabab would hold on to Odion Ighalo because of the same reason of invitation letter not arriving early enough.

Another source of concern aside the late arrival of players is that Nigeria will also be without Victor Osimhen and perhaps Leon Balogun. While the latter's absence wouldn't be much of a problem, the former's absence is expected to dent the team's chances of getting goals.

No disrespect to the other strikers in the team, but with Victor Osimhen out of it completely and Odion Ighalo's possible absence, the Eagles chances of getting the goals that would propel them to the title is at the minimum.

Yes, the likes of Sadiq Umar and Taiwo Awoniyi are proven goal scorers for their respective teams in Europe, but these guys haven't played consistently for the Eagles to raise any hope that they would hit the ground running by the time we face Egypt next week.

The team's ability to create the much needed chances for the strikers to take is not also a great one and despite the inclusion of SC Huesca of Spain's Kelechi Nwakali, one wonders if he would assume the role of being the creative spark capably.

Talented as he is but Kelechi Nwakali would only be appearing for the Eagles for the first time in a major tournament at that. The former youth international for some well documented reasons haven't been a part of the Eagles set up before now, prompting fears he may struggle.

One other grey area in the Eagles' chances of going all the way is the suitability of Augustine Equaveon as the team's boss.

Known to have guided the side to a third place finish at the AFCON in 2006, Cerezo's tactical ability leaves much to be desired when compared to that of the Eagles' rivals for the title.

That the Tunisia 1994 AFCON winner as a player haven't been at a dugout for quite a while should be something we should ponder about. Also the short time he will have with the group before their first game against Egypt in Garoua next week might not be enough to get them playing to his style.

Having Said all and with that strength of the North African teams [ Algeria, Morocco and Egypt ] who were all involved at the just concluded FIFA Arab Cup, it would take something of a miracle for the ill prepared Eagles to conquer the continent.

There is also the likes of Senegal, Host Cameroon and a few other relatively strong teams like Ghana, Mali and the Ivory Coast to contend with.