‘It’s World Cup Ticket Or Nothing’—Eagles’ Players

By Taiwo Adelu  &  Wale Joseph

Two Nigerian internationals, Super Eagles star, Obinna Nwaneri and U-23 Eagles player, Adefemi Olubayo, have declared that the senior national team must qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa at all costs.

The players believe that the Nwankwo Kanu-captained team have no excuse not to play in the World Cup after the country missed out in the Germany 2006 mundial.

Olubayo, a silver-medal winning U-23 Eagles in the Beijing 2008 Olympics, expressed confidence in the ability of the coach Shuaibu Amodu-tutored side to pick the only ticket available in Group 4 of the qualifying series, which commences in March.

The Rapid Bucharest of Romania utility player said the Eagles have what it takes to qualify from the group that also includes Tunisia, Mozambique and Kenya.

“I want to say the Super Eagles already have one leg in South Africa. They should just go for victory in Mozambique and Kenya, while trying to get a draw in Tunisia after winning all their home games. I think the winning streak is possible because we have the players who can do it,” he said.

In the same vein, Nwaneri, who joined Swiss club, FC Sion, during the 2007 January transfer window, said  the Eagles cannot afford not to qualify for the World Cup with the calibre of stars in the team. According to him, “everybody wants to go to the World Cup. We need to show the world what the Eagles are made of. This is why we need to scale all hurdles to play in the world’s biggest soccer show in 2010.

“It’s also very important for the Eagles to pick the World Cup ticket long before the final match of the qualifiers. We should avoid what happened on our road to Germany 2006, where Angola picked a ticket for the World Cup ahead of Nigeria.”