Super Eagles not thinking about Bafana Bafana yet— Ekong
The captain of the Super Eagles, William Troost-Ekong, has said the three-time African champions are not making the mistake of thinking too much about the showdown with South Africa’s Bafana Bafana in Bloemfontein on Tuesday, but are rather focused on their clash with Rwanda’s Amavubi in Uyo on Saturday. “You take one step at a […]
super eagles captain, william troost ekong was among early arrivals in the team’s uyo camp yesterday
The captain of the Super Eagles, William Troost-Ekong, has said the three-time African champions are not making the mistake of thinking too much about the showdown with South Africa’s Bafana Bafana in Bloemfontein on Tuesday, but are rather focused on their clash with Rwanda’s Amavubi in Uyo on Saturday.
“You take one step at a time. We have Rwanda to play on Saturday, and there are three points there. After that is concluded, then we begin to think of South Africa. There are three points also in there when we play in Bloemfontein, but that is a few days after Rwanda. Rwanda comes first,” Ekong said.
Nigeria has not had a campaign to shout about, especially in the first four matches of which she won none, but Ekong says the squad has committed to taking all points in the remaining games, believing that will be good enough to send Nigeria to the 48-nation finals in North America next summer.
At the moment, the Super Eagles are precariously placed fourth in Group C with only seven points from four matches, six points less than table toppers South Africa with 13 points.
“We will do our very best to go all out and win the remaining four matches. Hopefully, that will be good enough to take us there.”
The encounter with Rwanda, who lost the Matchday 5 that brought both teams at loggerheads in Kigali in March, is a Matchday 7 fixture, while the confrontation with South Africa is a Matchday 8 encounter.
It will be recalled that during the 1998 FIFA World Cup finals in France, the Super Eagles were focused on a potential Match-of-the-Tournament clash with Brazil in the quarter-finals, and failed to focus on their Round of 16 tie with Denmark.
Following a 4-1 thumping of the Super Eagles in the game, Denmark’s ace winger Brian Laudrup said at the post-match conference: “Nigeria should learn to count one before four.”
Meanwhile, the Super Eagles camp in Uyo attained full capacity on Wednesday evening, with the arrivals of midfielders Raphael Onyedika and Christantus Uche, and forwards Victor Osimhen, Samuel Chukwueze and Tolu Arokodare.