Tag: eagles

Football enthusiasts on Wednesday in Abuja said they expected the Super Eagles to put up a good showing at the 2014 FIFA World Cup which kicks off in Brazil on Thursday.

They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in separate interviews that the Eagles needed to work hard if they wanted to go far in the World Cup.

Prince Okigbo, a businessman, said the international friendly matches the Eagles played were enough to shape their style of game.

“I think the friendly games the Super Eagles played are enough to shape their style of game, because their defence is poor and their attacking force is not encouraging.

“I expect a good outing and hope that they go far in the competition,’’ he said.

Austin Okoye, a journalist, said the Super Eagles should be more focused, adding that the World Cup was a serious competition where they should strive to surpass their second round feat.

“World Cup is not a jamboree, it is a serious business. We know what it took them to get to this point, so, I expect them to do well.

“In the 1994 World Cup in USA, we crashed out in the second round, so I will like the Eagles to go beyond the second round this time,’’ Okoye said.

A footballer, Victor Sunday, urged the team to work with unity of purpose, adding that Nigerians have a lot of expectations from them.

“I expect them to go beyond the group stage because I do not think there is any strong opponent in that group.

“What they need now is to work hard, be focused and united and to also remember that Nigerians are expecting a lot from them,’’ Sunday said. Georgina Akande, a civil servant, said she expected Eagles to prove their strength and worth as African champions in the World Cup.

“As a Nigerian, I expect the team to work hard and display a good fighting spirit and to reach the quarter-finals stage.

“I also expect them to show in their performance that they are African champions and to be the last African country to leave the World Cup,’’ she said.

After a pulsating 2- 2 draw with the Tartan Army of Scotland last Wednesday in London, the Super Eagles quickly took the next step towards their World Cup preparation by arriving in the United States city of Philadelphia for their next round of friendlies against another World Cup-bound squad, Greece.

In a carefully scripted World Cup plan by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), the Super Eagles left London on Thursday at exactly 12:40 via a British Airways plane and after seven hours of flight landed in Philadelphia at about 3:20pm local time, about 8:20 pm Nigerian time.

All the 30 invited players are on the trip as the battle for shirts for the World Cup takes a final bend, with Head Coach Stephen Keshi expected to name the final 23-man list in the next 24 hours. The players have been very business-like in their mood trying to impress the coach in the eleventh hour. Keshi too seems to want a level playing field as he has scheduled twice a day trainings for all the players to prove themselves.

The first of the training session took place by 8am on Friday in Philadelphia, while the second will take place at 4:30pm same day. This training regime is expected to be sustained ahead of the naming of the 23-man list for the Mundial in Brazil. The team is putting up at the Westin Hotel and Resort in the centre of Philadelphia, an exotic hotel described as serene and a delight by team psychologist, Dr Robinson Okosun.

Meanwhile, Germany-based defender, Leon Aderemi Balogun says he has been following the progress of the team in London and wishes the team the best during Brazil 2014.

Balogun, who puts his fitness level at about 70 per cent, said with the calibre of players he has interacted with in the team, the Eagles will go far in Brazil with luck on their side. “We’ve got great and classy players that can match any country in the World Cup, we just pray that we should be lucky when the competition starts.”

Soccer fans and administrators have called on Nigerians to show understanding on the final Super Eagles’ 23-man list to be released by Coach Stephen Keshi for the Brazil World Cup.

The fans made the call on Thursday while reacting to the team’s 2-2 draw with Scotland in a World Cup build-up game on Wednesday in London.

 In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), fans in Abakaliki said that various factors played out in the Scotland game which would make the final selection difficult for the coaches.

Chief Sam Mgbada, Ebonyi Commissioner for Youths and Sports, said the short period of preparation and testing opportunities would affect the luxury needed to make the selection.

 “Keshi showed during the match that he already has some players in mind and only needed to test the capabilities of others to make up the final 23. The players trained for only two days and had to use the Scotland match to test their abilities, as this might affect the overall judgment used in selecting the final team,” he said.

Chief Chike Ogiji, Chairman of Ebonyi House of Assembly Committee on Youths and Sports, noted the players who featured, showed commitment and this might increase the coaches’ section headache.

“It was obvious that everyone wanted to go to the World Cup, as they ran for 90 minutes without stopping and even risked injury in the bid to please the coaches.”

Paschal Ogbu, Ebonyi United FC player, offered some selection tips for the coaches to ease the pressure and confusion.

“Sunday Mba, who carelessly did not sort out his traveling plans on time, should be dropped while Kunle Odulami, who got injured in the match, should also be dropped. One player should be dropped between reserve keepers Chigozie Agbim and Daniel Akpeyi while those who did not impress the coaches in the match should also be dropped to make it seven,” he said.

Chief Ike Ndolo, a businessman, called on Nigerians to support the team, as the players whom the coaches would select would be the best under the present circumstances.

 “The players on their part, should show dedication and commitment, realising that they are privileged to be selected among the pool of footballers in the country,” he said.

 Mrs Chinwe Inya, a teacher, called for intense prayers and support for the team, as several factors, apart from actual play, could impede the success of teams in tournaments.

 “We should recall how poor officiating, ill luck, among others, robbed Nigeria of glory in past competitions,” she said.

 Other fans, soccer administrators and enthusiasts in Enugu said that Keshi and his crew members should not have been experimenting, few weeks to the World Cup. They advised the crew to exit players who could not live up to their expectation.

Former Rangers FC player, Nwabueze Nwankwo, expressed surprise that the crew was still experimenting at this stage, instead of blending the squad for the task ahead.

“Keshis’ experiment almost caused us the match against the Scotland team; it is a match we would have won with the expected World Cup squad.

“With Mikel Obi, Kenneth Omeruo, Emanuel Emenike, Vincent Enyeama and Godfrey Oboabona starting, alongside the other first team players, we would have wrapped up the game before the break,” Nwankwo said.

The Secretary of Enugu State Football Association, Mr Sunday Ugwu, said that Eagles’ performance against Scotland was a good one, considering the opponents’ recent six games unbeaten record.

“Keshi rested some of his first team players because they have been tested and trusted; so he has to test others to be convinced of the new intended players to be injected into the team. Friendly match is an experimental game and he used it for the purpose. You can see that he totally left out Emenike and discovered another two good strikers in Michael Uchebo and Uche Nwofor. But that does not mean he should sacrifice the World Cup selection for the out-of- favour players,” Ugwu said.

Foster Chime, Rangers International FC’s spokesman, said that Eagles would do well in Brazil since they were able to hold the Scottish National Team 2-2, in spite of resting some good players in the team.

“Let us not forget that the players, who started the match, were mainly home-based and fringe players in the squad. By the time we play Greece on June 3 and USA on June 9, the final squad’s ability will be determined and we will know what the World Cup holds in bag for us. For me, Super Eagles will exceed their past world cup records in Brazil,” Chime said.

 Uche Nwafor’s strike in 90th minute rescued the Super Eagles after the Michael Uchebo leveled for Nigeria in the 41st minute, as the Scottish team took the lead twice.

After the Nigerian  national team played out a pulsating 2-2 draw against the Tartan Army of Scotland on Wednesday at the Craven Cottage in London, players of the World Cup bound  team have started to take stock of what may be in the coming days with many of them saying they don’t envy Coach Stephen Keshi at this very difficult period.

Team Skipper, Joseph Yobo, said at the post match conference that if he was the coach he will find it difficult to drop any of the players that is presently in the 30-man squad. “Nigeria is blessed with talents and that is why I think all the players here merit to be in Brazil, even when we have some other very good ones still hanging out. If you watch the game against Scotland, you will know that the ‘Big Boss’ needs to be pitied over dropping players and picking those who will make the final 23. It will be tough.”

Stoke City’s forward Osaze Odemwingie, on his part said he was happy at the response of his teammates to his return to the national side. “But how do we drop players now from this squad. Everybody here is good but we should leave that to the coach but I know it would be a tough task.”

England based Shola Ameobi, declared that playing for the Nigerian side has made him a better team player because of the quality of players in camp and wished he had started playing earlier for the team. “We are all good but we should just pray for the coach to ensure that he picks the best for the World Cup.”

Towering defence ace, Azubuike Egwuehwe put it more succinctly: “When I was going into the match against Scotland I said to myself O’boy you are on trial, now I know that it’s our coach who has a really difficult job of picking the 23 players for Brazil 2014 to do.”

Christophe Berra has stated that Wednesday’s international friendly game against Nigeria at the Craven Cottage Stadium in London will be tougher for the Scots to win than the impending tie aaginst Germany later in the year.

Berra reasoned that Nigeria may have World Cup-bound players with top quality but stresseed that they would not be willing to take risks to jeopardise their chnaces of playing at the Mundial beginning from June 12.

According to agency reports scooped from England on Sunday evening, Berra said: “You look at the squad Nigeria are taking to the World Cup and they’ve got players at some big clubs across Europe.

“Okay they’re a long way below us in the rankings but that maybe tells you more about how seriously you should take the rankings than it does about their team.

“You just need to look at their players to realise what a tough game this will be. There’s an argument to say that with the World Cup only a few weeks away they won’t be taking any risks, but then again maybe a few might be taking the chance to impress and get a jersey for their group games.

“But from our point of view, we’re playing Germany in our next game – we want to be prepared for that and playing against guys of this standard will help. If we’d taken on a smaller team in a game like this, a Malta or someone, you’re only pulling the wool over your own eyes in terms of benefit.

“You’re always better to play good teams and test yourself. If you lose, you lose, but you learn more from that than you would by winning an easy game.”

The 29-year-old said: “The mindset is great just now and so many good results in friendlies has helped.

“But in the end it’ll all come down to the qualifiers. There’s no point in performing like we have in all these friendlies then not doing it in the games that actually matter.

“We need to carry our confidence into a game where there are three points at stake. Then we can say to ourselves that we’ve improved and that we’re entitled to our optimism. And the boys would love to give the manager a flier.”

Easier said than done when the opener is against Germany, in Germany.

World football governing body (FIFA) have assured that the Super Eagles will not suffer health problems during the forthcoming World Cup in Brazil.

FIFA made the guarantee yesterday following the lawsuit instituted against it by the Brazilian players’ union over the heat and humidity at the match venues.

Nigeria will face Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Group F second game on June 21 by 18:00 (8pm Nigerian time) at the Arena Pantanal Cuiaba, one of the venues to be  affected by extreme heat and humidity.

FIFA said teams of medical experts will be on alert during the Eagles match to prevent any eventuality.

The players’ union filed a lawsuit against FIFA to change match start times this summer. But the World Governing Body said they will not change the start times, something they claimed had been researched and analyzed for two years.

The World Cup has already introduced drink breaks into the matches, but has not made them mandatory, saying the cooling breaks will be added or not, based on the conditions for each individual match.

The players union says FIFA must make cooling breaks mandatory, as well as change the start times to later in the day, or player safety will suffer due to “intense heat.”

“FIFA’s medical team is always monitoring carefully all venues during any FIFA competition to protect the players’ health,” FIFA said in a statement.

FIFA last year altered the start times of seven matches in the most humid venues before fixing the final fixtures.

“One core aspect in defining the kickoff times was the very thorough analysis of the historical climate data in all venues,” FIFA said. “Therefore, the venues with the highest average temperatures such as Manaus, Cuiaba and Fortaleza do not have any matches with 1 p.m. kickoff times during the group stages.”

Former International Gbenga Moses has tipped the Super Eagles to get to the semi-final of the 2014 World Cup but warned that lack of a match reader for the team may however scuttle that ambition.

“First and foremost like any other patriotic Nigerian I am expecting that the Super Eagles are going to perform exceedingly well. Again if you look at our performances at USA ’94 World Cup when the team won the Africa Nations Cup same year, we took that to the World Cup and we did well there.

“If you look at it again this team has done very well under the Chief Coach Stephen Keshi. Keshi has done what other coaches have not done with the team since USA ’94 Class of Eagles. The present set of the Super Eagles want to make name for themselves and now with the fusion of other established players we are hoping that the Nigerian team will go to Brazil and do us all proud. The Nigerian team is of average age of 22 and 24 years and this is good for the team.

“Let me say it without mincing words that I am one of those that believe that the players will do what no other teams have done which means that they are likely to get to the semi-final. We are hoping that if they do that and get to that level we should be assured of splendid result after all”, Moses disclosed.

He also expressed confidence in the Eagles to live up to expectation at the World Cup. “As a Nigerian I believe in the team and as an ex- player I also believe that the players will do well. Let’s just pray and hope that Keshi will get it right before the start of the competition.

On the exclusion of Ikechukwu Uche and Chinedu Obasi from the provisional list of 30 released by the Eagles Coach, the former Inwuanyawu  National FC (now Heartland FC) player frowned at their exclusion.

“Let’s be sincere with ourselves every serious team will go to that kind of competition with their best players. These are the best players Nigeria has presently. I am one of those that believe that yes no two players are the same and as a Manager you should be able to manage players that are indisciplined. You can get the best out of these player,” he said.

The Nigeria left back speaks to kickoffNigeria.com about his move to Monaco and the return of Osaze Odemwingie

LET’S START WITH YOUR MOVE TO MONACO. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?

Well, I was in the last year of my contract and many clubs were coming for me, because they knew I wanted to move.

But as soon as I heard that Monaco were interested I knew I wanted to go there because it was a chance to return to France, and it was a club like Monaco.

WERE YOU WORRIED YOU MIGHT NOT GET PLAYING TIME?

When you go to a new club you have to be patient. But that wasn’t in my mind. You have to adjust. I never thought of that’s if a club comes for you, it means they need you and want to use you.

So I know it was only a matter of time.

DID YOU WORRY THAT IT MIGHT AFFECT YOUR CHANCES WITH THE SUPER EAGLES?

I just keep training hard and keeping myself fit. That is important. Those involved in football, like the coaches, will really understand my situation. Sometimes it doesn’t really go as you plan. For you to have playing time, the coach here will decide. When you don’t get playing time just keep working hard and be patient and your time will come.

ARE YOU CONFIDENT OF MAKING THE WORLD CUP SQUAD?

I have to work hard and show in the camp that I am ready. I have to show positivity. That I am working for the team. And put in my best during the warm up games, that will win me a place in Brazil.

EVERYBODY BACK HOME WAS ANXIOUSLY WAITING FOR THE LIST. AS PLAYERS, DO YOU GUYS TALK ABOUT IT?

No, we never do that because you never know who’s going to be there and who is not.

But we just all wish ourselves the best.

WHAT ABOUT AFTER THE LIST WAS RELEASED. HOW DO YOU MAKE THE EXCLUDED ONES FEEL BETTER?

Definitely, we are still one family. That is one thing that will not change. Because you are not playing now doesn’t mean that’s the end.

It’s just sometimes everybody can’t play. I know it’s really difficult because everybody wants to go to the World Cup.

We are still in touch, we talk to them keep encouraging each other and I hope they get to understand that it’s football.

It is heart-breaking to miss the World Cup, but life goes on.

HOW HARD DO YOU THINK IT WILL BE TO TAKE ON IRAN AND BOSNIA TO START WITH?

We have a good chance to qualify but if we don’t work hard it will be difficult.

For Bosnia and Iran to be in the World Cup, it means they have something to offer. And everybody knows how strong Argentina is.

HOW FAR DO YOU THINK THE SUPER EAGLES CAN GO AT THE WORLD CUP?

This is football. You can never predict but you just have to wish and work hard to get your wish.

Whenever you top your record, that’s always good. For us, I think it’s to work hard and qualify from the group stage. Then when you get to the knockout stage we will really see how far we go.

FINALLY, OSAZE ODEMWINGIE IS BACK IN THE SQUAD. WHAT DO YOU THINK HE WILL BRING?

Yeah, we are happy to see him back in the squad. Osaze brings a lot of experience and quality. He has played a lot of top games. It is a plus; it is a plus to the team.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) may have tacitly told Dutchman Clemens Westerhof to search elsewhere for another World Cup bound country that will accept his offer of a technical assistance.

Penultimate Friday, the controversial Westerhof who led Nigeria to the USA ’94 World Cup told reporters during a media parley in Lagos that he was willing to act as Stephen Keshi’s personal assistant for next month’s World Cup in Brazil.

“I want to be Keshi’s personal assistant in Brazil,” Westerhof who also coached in South Africa and Zimbabwe began in the interview.

“I’m not asking Keshi or the NFF to pay me apart from the normal winning bonuses that will be paid to the players.I want Keshi and Daniel Amokachi to succeed and that’s why I’m offering my services free of charge,” he said.

Westerhof, who was in Nigeria to record a documentary on Nigeria football, also said in that interview that he would ask Keshi to pass his offer across to the NFF.

However, from all indications it was obvious the Big Boss never took the loquaciuos coach seriously as he never mentioned the Dutchman’s offer to the NFF when he met with the technical committee last Tuesday in Abuja.

“The NFF are not aware of any offer from Westerhof and Keshi himself has not told us of anything like that,” Emeka Inyama, chairman of the NFF’s media sub committee told SportingLife in a telephone interview.

Inyama disclosed that only Keshi has the right to choose who he wants to work with and since he didn’t ask for Westerhof or any other assistant, the NFF can’t act otherwise and jump the gun.

“We have continued to reiterate that Keshi is in charge of the Super Eagles in all ramifications and whatever he wants is what the NFF will give to him. This pre supposses that we won’t meddle into who works with him as his assistants.”

Asked if the NFF were not worried the Eagles technical crew may have been depleted by the absence of Sylvanus Okpala ahead of the World Cup, Inyama retorted: “Did Keshi complain that the work is too much for him?.

“Don’t forget that Keshi has Daniel Amokachi, Ike Shorunmu as the goalkeepers’ trainer and Valerie all working with him. For now, he has not raised any alarm. We would look into it if he complains,” Inyama added.