20th October, 2014
Nigeria caretaker coach Shaibu Amodu has expressed confidence that the Super Eagles will beat Congo before their vociferous fans when both teams clash next month in Pointe Noire in the ongoing qualifying series for the 2015 African Cup of Nations .
Congo shocked Africa champions 3-2 in Calabar when both countries clash in Group A opener of the qualifier two months ago.
The defeat put Nigeria third on the table after playing 0-0 with South Africa in Cape Town, lost 0-1 to Sudan in Khartoum before beating Sudan 3-1 in the return leg at the Abuja National Stadium.
Amodu, who replaced Coach Stephen Keshi recently after his Eagles’ poor run in the AFCON qualifiers, said his mission is to win Nigeria’s remaining two matches and qualify the country for next year’s Africa Nations Cup.
With Nigeria’s best legs certain to be part of the fight for shirts for the Congo match, Amodu believes it is a mountain that could be surmounted.
“If Congo came here and scored three goals, nothing stops us going to Congo to score three or more goals,” he declared.
“We have done it before. We will do it again.”
Amodu and the other coaches of the Eagles are expected to meet in Abuja this week to agree on a game plan for next month’s win-or-bust AFCON qualifiers against Congo and South Africa.
A top official said: “The newly appointed coach will meet in Abuja most likely on Friday to agree on how to go about the matches against Congo and South Africa.”
Amodu and his assistants Salisu Yusuf and Gbenga Ogunbote are expected to brain storm with the newly appointed NFF technical committee led by Enyimba chairman Felix Anyansi.
They are most likely to draw up a list of players to be called up for the final two qualifiers.
Meanwhile as a result of CAF’s regulation for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, Nigeria need to score three goals in Brazzaville on 15 November and not concede more than one to steady their ship for Morocco.
This is because they lost 3-2 to the Congolese in Calabar on 6 September, and should both teams finish on equal number of points, CAF will take into consideration the team that scored the most away goals in the fixture involving both teams.
Once Nigeria hit three goals in Pointe Noire and do not concede more than one, all they need do to qualify is defeat South Africa in Uyo on 19 November to qualify for the final tournament.