Kanu: We fear no foe

As the Confederation of African Football (CAF) get set to make the draws for the forthcoming African Cup of Nations tonight, Super Eagles captain, Nwankwo Kanu, has said they would be battle-ready to face any of the four seeded countries they might be drawn with in the same group.

Angola, Egypt, Cameroon and Cote d’Ivoire have been seeded for the Nations Cup and there is the possibility that Nigeria could be drawn alongside any of these countries.
But Kanu said there should be no cause for alarm over the draw.

“You must beat the best teams if you have an ambition to win the Nations Cup or World Cup. There is no short cut to success. Nothing good comes easy. We’ve just qualified for the World Cup despite that we were in a tough group and it did not come on a platter of gold,” Kanu noted.

“We won’t underrate any team that have qualified for the Nations Cup. Every team participating in the Nations Cup deserve to be accorded respect and have an equal chance of winning the trophy,” he added.
The Nations Cup draws will hold tonight at The Talatona Convention Centre in Luanda, Angola. The draws were expected to attract crème de la crème of African football, including Angola head of state, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who will be the special guest.

The Super Eagles of Nigeria will today know their opponents in the group stage of the African Nations Cup as the draw for the competition holds today in the city of Luanda, Angola.
Nigeria are not one of the teams seeded for the draw, given their performance in the last three editions of the competition.
The country has been put in Pot 2. Host, Angola, defending champions, Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire and Cameroon are the seeded teams and are in Pot 1.
The draws are expected to be witnessed by more than 300 guests, including the president of Angola, Jose Eduardo dos Santos.
The competition will be held in four Angola cities of Luanda, Carbinda, Benguela and Lubango.

Lagos fans hold the key, says Obuh

Nigeria’s U-17 Head Coach, Sam John Obuh, has urged the people of Lagos State to turn out en masse at the Teslim Balogun Stadium to cheer the Golden Eaglets as they seek a place in the FIFA U-17 World Cup final. Obuh believes the inspiration for the boys to pick a ticket for the finals place when they play Spain on Thursday lies largely in the hands of their Lagos fans.

“Support will be very important for us in Lagos against Spain. Spain is a very good team and they have the ability to turn a game on its head, but we will see how we tur n it before them,” said Obuh after his boys trounced Korea Republic 3-1 in Calabar on Monday night to earn a place in the semi-finals.

Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub, is also the nation’s most populous city.

Until 1992, it was the administrative capital, and all major football matches involving Nigeria were staged in the city until earlier this decade. But the National Stadium, Abuja, has taken over and it is only the advent of the Teslim Balogun Stadium that has brought Lagos back to the fore and a possible return of some international action to the bustling city.

“The people of Lagos know how to support, just like people in other parts of the country, he added. “We love them all, and we will continue to do our best until we retain the trophy.”

Colombia and Switzerland play the first semi-final match starting from 4pm before the floodlit second semi-final involving the cup holders and hosts. The match is a repeat of the 2007 final, which Nigeria won on penalties after both teams finished 0-0 at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.

Spain is Eaglets final

Former Super Eagles midfielders, Etim Esin and Thompson Oliha, have said the Golden Eaglets semi-final match is a big hurdle the team must cross to pick the trophy for a record four times.

Esin, who was a part of the Nigerian team to the 1987 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile, said: “with the confidence the boys have displayed so far in the competition, getting the trophy is a possibility. But their biggest challenge is Spain. Colombia and Switzerland, have what it takes to get to the finals but I don’t see them beating (the) Eaglets.”

Final before final

The erstwhile midfielder called the clash “finals before the finals,” adding that the Spanish teenage side will go all out to punish Nigeria for beating them to the gold at the finals of the last edition of the bi-annual championship.

“I don’t see the match getting to penalties. In Korea [2007], the Eaglets got the better of Spain in the finals on penalty shoot out,” he said. “With what we saw them play against Uruguay, I’m sure they will try to finish off our boys within the 90 minutes.”

In an act of comradeship, Oliha, who played alongside Esin in Chile but was forced to retire at the age of 27 as a result of a serious knee injury in 1994, noted that only pride and over-confidence can stop the Eaglets against Spain.

“Apart from the first two matches where it seems the boys were not sure of what they were doing on the pitch, they have performed excellently in subsequent games and that may be their undoing,” Oliha said. “To avoid defeat, our boys must score as many goals as possible, forget their previous victories and concentrate on the match.”

He added that the Spanish teenagers will be tough opposition saying “they have been runner-up three times and are tired of it. If they defeat us they are sure to beat whoever make it between the other two.”

So far so good

Also, Super Eagles midfielder, Mutiu Adepoju has said Nigerians can now begin to hope for the best from John Obuh’s boys.

Adepoju, who currently serves as the General Manager of Shooting Stars Club of Ibadan said, “You know before, many people thought that the team did not have anything to offer, and that they will not get this far but for a team that has now gotten to the semi-finals, I think we can now begin to hope for the best. I’m happy about their performance because they’ve moved from a stage of doubt to hope and God willing, I will be in Lagos to watch the match.”

Adepoju, who was fondly referred to as the “headmaster” during his playing days has warned that Gines Melendez’s lads will be going for the jugular of the host nation.

“You know we defeated Spain in the finals of the 2007 edition of the U-17 World Cup so they will now be hoping to take their revenge against us,” he said. “Spain is one of the toughest teams in this tournament so our boys have to be very careful.

“I would have preferred if they met Spain in the finals, not now, because that will be so interesting. However, they (the Eaglets) should try as much as possible to avoid long range shots and also ensure that they do not give the Spaniards any space.”

Kenya promises Nigeria hell

Kenya' Deputy Minister of Sports, Kabondo Kabondo, has again boasted that Super Eagles of Nigeria would be beaten silly when they clash with Harambee Stars in the World/Nations Cup qualifier scheduled for November 14 in Nairobi, Kenya.

Speaking live from Nairobi with an Abuja-based radio station, Hot FM, Kabonda, who earlier last month told media men in Abuja that it was unfortunate that the Eagles would be calling when the generality of Kenyans wanted the ticket to go to Nations Cup badly, said that on reaching home, he became more convinced that Nigeria would fall easily in Nairobi.

"We believe we can qualify for the Nations Cup in Angola, so we are not taking chances. The current condition of our team and the climate advantage we have will help us to maul the Super Eagles by at least 5–0 with the hope that Mozambique will draw or lose to Tunisia.

"My optimism of our beating Nigeria is based on the fact that Eagles are no longer the dreaded team we used to know. That is why I believe that we will score them five times without them making any reply," he stated.

He said the Kenya Football Limited were working round the clock to ensure the Harambee Stars qualify for the CAF Nations Cup by beating the Eagles.
He assured that the Nigerian team would get fine hospitality when they visit Nairobi, but emphasised that Harambee Stars would beat them silly on the pitch.