Rabiu Leads U-23 Eagles In Olympic Qualifier Against E/Guinea

Under 23 Eagles’ Chief Coach, Austin Eguavoen has revealed that Ibrahim Rabiu will lead Nigeria’s Olympic team in the second leg of their London 2012 Olympic Games qualifier against Equatorial Guinea in Malabo this evening.

Nigeria have a healthy 5-0 advantage over Malabo from the first leg, but coach Austin Eguavoen is adamant that attack will be the best form of defence.

“We will be bringing some changes,” Eguavoen said. “Rabiu Ibrahim will play the role that skipper Lukman Huruna played in the first leg two weeks ago while Ayo Saka, Otekpa Eneji, Uchechi Daniel, and Osas Okoro will make the starting eleven in the midfield,” Eguavoen revealed.

Despite the commanding scoreline, the former international is bracing for a testy game.

“It’s going to be a difficult game and we shall by no means underrate our opponents; but one thing we will do is take the game to them,” he added.

However, Head of Delegation of the national U-23 team, Dream Team, to Malabo for the qualifier, Chief Mike Umeh has challenged the players to fight for the entire 90 minutes and show ample discipline in their approach to the game.

Umeh, the 1st Vice President of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, said yesterday as the team rounded off their only training session at the National Stadium, Malabo, that Nigerians would not take anything less than victory from the 1996 Olympic champions.

“You all know that in 1996, your predecessors won the Olympic gold – the first time by an African country. Three years ago, the 2008 set won silver in China.

“This is just the beginning of your own journey. You must play with all your heart and show rare commitment throughout the game. You must play as if this is the first leg match”, Umeh said.

The delegation arrived in Malabo at 6-30pm Friday evening, and was met by officials of the Nigeria Embassy in Equatorial Guinea. Nigerian officials have commended the Embassy officials for their support and show of love.

Embassy officials brought Nigerian food for the players and officials at their Hotel Tropicana on Saturday night and have also promised them more Nigerian food for lunch on match day.