Nigeria's Super Eagles under pressure
Super Eagles under pressure
Posted: 2010-09-04 10:06
The game against Madagascar on Sunday at the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar will be Nigeria's first competitive match since their dismal performance at the World Cup in South Africa where they crashed out of the tournament at the group stages.
The Super Eagles will be favourites to beat Madagascar though in Calabar on Sunday.
Austin Eguavoen, who led the Super Eagles to third place at the 2006 African Nations Cup in Egypt, has been installed as the interim coach after the resignation of Swedish tactician Lars Lagerback. The Eguavoen led Super Eagles lost 2-1 to South Korea in a friendly last month and he will also be in charge for the Madagascar match.
However, desperate to bring back smiles on the faces of Nigerians, the coach told Goal.com that they will collectively put in their best to achieve a good result.
“It has to be an outright victory, nothing short of victory. We will do our best to make Nigerians happy, we will try to score goals, with the likes of Eneramo, Martins, Odemwingie and Kalu Uche who is in form, we will come out with three points.”
Underdogs
The Barea of Madagascar will try to prove that they are no underdogs, though they have never qualified for the finals of the World Cup or the African Nations Cup. Among their biggest wins was a 1-0 home victory over Egypt in the qualification rounds of the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations.
Under the guidance of coach Jean-Paul Rabier, who got off to a winning start when the team beat Comoros Islands 1-0 recently, the team will put in their best to make a name for their country.
TEAM NEWS
Nigeria
Chelsea midfielder Mikel Obi has joined up with the Eagles. Nigeria Premier League top scorer Ahmed Musa, Bayelsa United goalkeeper Bassey Akpan as well as Enyimba defenders Emmanuel Anyanwu and Valentine Nwabili are all part of the squad.
Fulham midfielder Dickson Etuhu and Joseph Akpala of Club Brugge have been ruled out as a result of injury, while Esperance striker Michael Eneramo and Oluwafemi Ajilore have been recalled after they were axed for both the 2010 World Cup squad.
Joseph Yobo was to report to camp as a result of his loan move to Fenerbahce of Turkey, while the Eagles gentle giant Danny Shittu will have to put behind him the cancellation of his contract by Bolton Wanderers.
Madagascar
The entire squad has arrived Nigeria amidst confusion over the shift of match venue from Abuja to Calabar. A local daily in Antananarivo claimed that the Bareas and their technical crew planed to arrive in Abuja and not Calabar, which is the new venue for the tie.
Nigeria local newspaper the Nation Sport on Wednesday revealed that the Madagascar FA had arranged a chartered flight that would airlift its players and technical crew to Abuja with a likely stop over at the Lagos Murtala Mohammed International airport, but to their dismay reports from international media and wire sources like the AFP, Reuters and other Nigerian newspapers had carried reports of a change in date, Sunday and the new venue (Calabar), which the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) failed to communicate to them.
However, in an attempt to get a response from the NFF on the development of the encounter, media officer to the Glass House, Robinson Okosun said, “Well, I don’t know of such a report, as the NFF on Tuesday sent them a communique informing them of the new date and the Calabar venue.”



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