Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi has expressed his desire for a quick conclusion of this round of the World Cup qualifying series as the Super Eagles take on Namibia tonight (Wednesday). Keshi, who spoke on the backdrop of the 1-0 win over Kenya last week, said that winning the match in Windhoek would make the last match of the qualifiers a mere formality which would reduce pressure on the team when the Malawians visit Nigeria.
He said, “We have to pick maximum points from the match as well, to make sure of our progress in the race, even ahead of the last matches in the group.
“I am confident that we will achieve our objective of earning three points here. We have been training hard here since arriving on Friday and I believe the boys are itching to go into action. We have eight points now and can qualify with a game to spare, but we must work very hard as I don’t think the Namibians are a push-over.”
If Nigeria beat Namibia and if Malawi fail to beat Kenya, Nigeria will be through to the next round before the final match in September (Match Day 6) against Malawi in Calabar or Abuja. Eagles are scheduled to face the Brave Warriors in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying match at 8pm.
Namibia with four points are still mathematically in with a chance of earning the lone ticket from Group F into the 10-team African final elimination round, and will surely give it a fight against the Eagles. Eagles spent their fifth day in the Namibian capital on Tuesday evening with a light workout.
The match has been confirmed to be played on the artificial turf of the Sam Nujoma Stadium. The match is a return leg after the Namibians lost the tie in Calabar by 1-0 a year ago, at the start of the series. Ikechukwu Uche who scored the late goal for Nigeria in that encounter is not part of the team in Windhoek.
The Warriors have been hit by the exit of their Swedish coach, Roger Palmgren, 48 hours to the clash with the African champions. Malawi’s Flames host Kenya’s Harambee Stars at the Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre same day. Malawi have six points with Kenya bottom of the pool on two points.
After the match, the Eagles will fly to Johannesburg on Thursday afternoon to connect a South African Airways flight to Sao Paulo, from where they will travel to Belo Horizonte for their first match of the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup tournament, against Tahiti on Monday.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to our publication. Do not miss out on any information.
Join us on Facebook:
https://facebook.com/ireporterinternational
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ireporterng