2010 World Cup: Nigerians say Eagles can excel

Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday immediately after the competition’s final draw held in Cape Town, South Africa, the respondents said with the right preparation the draw was a good one for Nigeria. NAN reports that Nigeria’s Super Eagles were drawn in Group B alongside two-times winners Argentina, 2004 European Championships […]

Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday immediately after the competition’s final draw held in Cape Town, South Africa, the respondents said with the right preparation the draw was a good one for Nigeria.

NAN reports that Nigeria’s Super Eagles were drawn in Group B alongside two-times winners Argentina, 2004 European Championships winners Greece and 2002 World Cup semi-finalists South Korea.

Malam Alhassan Yakmut, the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Premier League (NPL), who described the Nigerian group as “a beautiful line-up’’, said the Eagles only needed to get it going from their first game against the South Americans.

“We only need to win the first game against the Argentina side and the rest will be walk-overs for us thereafter.

“Once we demystify Argentina, we would have sent across a message. But failure to do that will give the others the confidence to harass us,’’ he said.

NAN reports that Argentina have beaten Nigeria on the two occasions they met at that level, winning 2-1 in 1994 in the U.S. and 1-0 in 2002 at South Korea/Japan.

Yakmut said the Nigerian team could be the pride of Africa at the June 11 to July 11 event with the right attitude and the right preparation.

“We can send the right message by consolidating on our areas of strength as an attacking team, by going all out for wins and not waiting for draws. And we can only do this well with the right mental attitude in our players.

“It is not about their physical fitness but their mental fitness. The psyche of the players must be in line with the attitude that they are not there for their clubs but for a nation called Nigeria, and that their group of 22 is representing 140 million Nigerians,’’ he said.

Coach Adams Usman of the Sudanese Premier League side Al-Hilal Kadugli, on his part, said the draw was kind to Nigeria and that the team would go on to do well with the right preparation the African Nations Cup finals in January 2010 in Angola would offer it.

“The draw is alright for us, and I believe since we qualified for the competition we are certainly among the best in the world and can prove our worth if we prepare well through the Nations Cup.

“I believe Angola 2010 will give us the opportunity to reshape the team before the World Cup,’’ Usman who had coached teams like Nasarawa United, the defunct Katsina United, Ranchers Bees and Keffi United before leaving for Sudan said.

He, however, warned against underrating any of the Group B teams, describing the group as open in terms of qualifiers for the next round from the group.

“The group is well open, so there should not be any underrating of any team. While many Nigerians felt the Eagles struggled to qualify, we must not forget that they can still spring a big surprise.

“The same thing goes for the others in that group too. We must also not forget that other big teams like France had to go through play-offs before they could qualify, unlike Nigeria that qualified outrightly.

“This means that the competition can hold a lot of surprise in 2010 and no team should be underrated at all,’’ the coach who assisted Tunde Disu in the national five-a-side team to the World Championship in Hong Kong in 1992,’’ said.

Mr Lucky Obehwo-Isawode, an Abuja-based journalist, said while the Nigerian group “is an easy one, the Super Eagles should remember that all other 31 teams at the competition are dangerous’’.

 “Our group is easy, but all 31 teams are dangerous and every one of them will be striving to win. This means we should take no chances,’’ he said.

Obehwo-Isawode, however, said the Super Eagles would qualify only on the basis of the players’ individual abilities and determination to excel.

“We will qualify based on the players’ skills and not on the basis of any technical input as long as we have the present technical crew in charge.

With Shuaibu Amodu there, the team is just on auto-pilot,’’ he said.

NAN reports that the Super Eagles would be making their fourth appearance at the world Cup finals in South Africa next year after previous appearances in 1994 at the U.S., 1998 at France and 2002 in South Korea/Japan.

The team reached the second round in 1994 and 1998 before losing to Italy and Chile respectively, while it failed to progress beyond the first round in 2002, losing two of its three matches and drawing the third one. (NAN)