As the Super Eagles take on Tanzania’s Taifa Stars today (Saturday) in Dar es Salaam, in a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations Group G qualifier, former Nigeria international, Yisa Shofoluwe, has called on the team to ensure they remained focussed from the outset. This would help them avoid conceding an early goal, he said, urging them to strive for the crucial early goal to upset the home side.
Also, another former Super Eagles star, Gbenga Okunowo, has called on Sunday Oliseh’s side to prosecute the game as a unit. The Super Eagles are currently second in Group G, behind Egypt, after managing a 2-0 win over Chad in Kaduna last June on a weekend that saw the Pharaohs mauling the Tanzanians 3-0 in Cairo.
That loss to the Egyptians consigned the Taifa Stars to the bottom of Group G and they are likely to come all-out against the Super Eagles from the start of today’s game in Dar es Salaam which could end up seeing Oliseh’s side conceding an early goal against the East Africans. It is for this reason that Sofoluwe has called on the Eagles not to lose concentration early on when proceedings begin in the Tanzanian capital.
“The most important thing for the Super Eagles is for them not to lose concentration so that they don’t concede early goals in Tanzania,” said the former defender, who was a member of Nigeria’s silver-winning side to both the 1984 and 1988 AFCON tournaments in Cote d’Ivoire and Morocco respectively.
“The defence must be on high alert so that they don’t concede a goal because that can change the tempo and the eventual outcome of the game. Concentration is vital when playing away games.” Sofoluwe does not expect the defenders to be the only ones responsible for keeping the Tanzanians at bay. He added: ”The midfielders must be ready to join the defence.
In fact, all the players must always fall back to help out the defence. This is very crucial and will help the team to get the job done just like (U-23 team’s coach) Samson Siasia did with the U-23’s when they played Congo in the last round of qualifiers (for the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations).” Nigeria’s U-23 side played out a goalless draw against their Congolese counterparts in Pointe Noire at the start of August to qualify for the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations, taking place in Senegal from November 28 to December 12, on a 2-1 aggregate score.
They displayed resilience and depended on teamwork to keep the Congolese at bay, and that is what Okunowo expects from the Super Eagles against the Taifa Stars. The former Barcelona player told Saturday Telegraph: “They must be ready to play for one another against Tanzania.
Superstars don’t make a team but teamwork and unity of purpose makes a team excel. Okunowo, who was part of the silver-winning Super Eagles team at the 2000 AFCON tournament co-hosted by Nigeria and Ghana, also charged the side to show good attitude both on and off the pitch.
A regular recurrence in Nigerian football has been the endless bickering between players and the football federation over virtually everything from match bonuses, to flight tickets, and even hotel reservation. Okunowo cautioned against such occurences this time.
“One of the fundamental principles to success is attitude and the Super Eagles must have a change of attitude for the coach and the team to succeed in general,” continued the 36-year-old who retired from football in 2013 after playing the 2012/2013 season with Sunshine Stars.
“The old and the new players in the team must have a positive attitude both on and off the field for the Eagles to function as a unit. “Most of the problems that affected the team in the past emanated from the off-field attitude of the players towards issues which later manifested on the pitch.”
