8th September, 2014
Taiwo Adelu, who was in Calabar
Basking in the euphoria of his team’s 3-2 victory over African champions, Super Eagles in Calabar at the weekend, Coach of Congo, Frenchman Claude Le Roy, is boasting that his youthful side will pick the group ticket to play in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco ahead of Nigeria.
Two tickets are available in Group which also comprises South Africa and Sudan. After the first group’s matches at the weekend, South Africa’s Bafana Bafana top with 3 points (beat Sudan 3-0), while Congo’s Red Devils are second with 3 points. Nigeria’s Eagles are third with no points. Sudan are at the bottom of the table.
Le Roy was bold in telling Nigerians that the Eagles should forget that they will pick the ticket ahead of the Red Devils as he had discovered in Calabar that the Nigerian team are not the team he knew in the past.
“When the draw was held, Congo were the least ranked, but our victory over Nigeria has given us the confidence to believe in ourselves that we are capable of shocking other teams in the group.
“We are rest assured that we’ll ensure that we pick the maximum points in all our home matches in the ongoing qualifying series and we just need to pick few draws away. My boys will improve in each game and I want to believe that defeating the Nigerian team in front of their fans here in Calabar was a morale booster for us,” said Le Roy a French football manager and former player, who gained prominence at international level as coach to the Senegal and Ghana national teams.
Meanwhile, stand in captain of the Eagles, goalkeeper Austin Ejide could not believe that Stephen Keshi-led Eagles could be beaten by the Congolese.
“These Congolese prepared very well for us. They were here for war and you can see that they attacked us like warriors. It was so unfortunate that we had to lose this way in Calabar,” he said.
Ejide, however, posited that Nigeria’s second group game against Bafana Bafana of South Africa on Wednesday will be a different ball game, adding that soccer-loving Nigerians should not give up on the team yet.
“I’m happy that there is no injury scare in the team now. We’ll look at where things went wrong and correct the lapses in our next game against South Africa,” he said.