Super Eagles Prepare For Thursday’s Clash With Sierra Leone
The Super Eagles of Nigeria have started training at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja, as they prepare for Thursday’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier against Sierra Leone.
The three-time African champions returned to Nigeria on Friday after a two-game friendly tour of the United States, where they lost 2-1 to Mexico, and were beaten 1-0 by Ecuador in the second game.
All the players listed for the qualifiers are already in Abuja, but the trio of Joe Aribo, Calvin Bassey and Shehu Abdullahi did not take part in the training session, as they arrived late in the day.
The Super Eagles will continue their preparation for the game with the training sessions opened to journalists, while the squad will meet with journalists on Wednesday.
Thursday’s match will give Nigerians an insight into what to expect from the new technical crew led by Jose Peseiro, who was in charge of the games against Mexico and Ecuador.
Nigeria lost the matches, but officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) believe there is a marked improvement from the sides tutored by Gernot Rohr and Augustine Eguavoen.
“I am happy and I can tell you that we fulfilled our objectives of restoring the spirit of the Super Eagles following the failure to qualify for the FIFA World Cup,” Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President Amaju Pinnick, said after Peseiro’s first two games in charge.
“We lost both games against Mexico and Ecuador narrowly, but we were up for it and never finished on the back foot. The boys gave a good account of themselves in both games.
Given the number of first-team players that were not available, we have to praise the boys, who showed up and gave their all. They have given us confidence going into the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. The despondency is over and we can now march forward in a sure-footed manner.”
Chidi Nwoke/Super Eagles.
