 |
| Ex-Nigeria coach Tunde Disu |
Cote d’Ivoire have won Group D and Nigeria must come top of Group C if they are to avoid the Elephants.
Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire have met 15 times with Cote d’Ivoire winning five of these matches, while six games have ended in draws.
They have also clashed five times at the AFCON with both countries claiming victory on two occasions each, while one game ended in a draw
However, both Disu and former international skipper Nwosu have told MTNFootball.com that the Eagles must not think about the quarterfinals yet, but go all out to beat Ethiopia to progress to the next round.
“Eagles have been a bit above average. We have to beat Ethiopia to progress beyond the first round. Keshi needs to employ a different strategy against Ethiopia and the Eagles should not start thinking of who to play in the quarterfinal,” said Disu, who was technical director when Nigeria last won the tournament in Tunisia in 1994.
“The 4-3-3 we are playing is meant for team who have a player who can hold on to ball, three midfielders who can defend and go forward at same time and with the energy needed. We don’t have players for that formation. Mikel is showing class but can’t do it alone.
“Also, Emenike is a hard working striker, but I think Ike Uche with his experience should be a starter in the Eagles.
“People are talking about Cote d’Ivoire because of their array of stars and are favourites to win. I am sure Cote d’Ivoire will be afraid to play us because they can’t confidently say they will beat Nigeria.
“But that is not the next thing now which is to beat Ethiopia silly, that should be our concern.”
Henry Nwosu told MTNFootball.com that Nigeria could beat Cote d’Ivoire, but they must first beat Ethiopia before talking about their next opponents.
“All the teams are good. No one gave Burkina Faso a chance to draw with Zambia and beat Ethiopia 4-0. Everybody is talking about Cote d’Ivoire because they have known stars. I am telling you Cote d’Ivoire might even be the easier team for us than the other teams. Cote d’Ivoire will be tough, but we can beat them.”
Tijjani Babangida told MTNFootball.com that Eagles must first qualify before thinking of the next opponent and that no country will win the AFCON without facing tough teams.
“We can avoid them by topping the group, but if not, let’s just qualify first, which is very important now,” said the former Ajax Amsterdam winger, who featured at the 2000 and 2002 tournaments.
“To win any tournament, you most beat big teams on your way to the finals. If it is Cote d’Ivoire, we can beat them, but we have to be at our very best.”
Source: The Nation
No comments:
Post a Comment