Olawale Ajimotokan
25 September 2008
Lagos — Super Eagles coach Shaibu Amodu has endorsed the Nigeria Football Federation's (NFF) plan to engage Colombia in an international friendly match in order to settle an old score with the Los Cafeteros (The Coffee Makers).
The confirmed encounter which is a Grade A match will come up on a FIFA window in Bogota on November 19.
Chairman of the NFF technical committee, Taiwo Ogunjobi disclosed to THISDAYSports last night that Amodu has agreed to parade a strong team for the match as it would afford him opportunity to exact his own pound of flesh from the Colombians.
The Eagles conceded their second all time defeat to the South Americans in 1995 at the US Gold Cup instructively during Amodu's first stint in charge of the national team.
A late goal by Gomez was all the Colombians needed to secure a 1-0 win in New Jersey over a haphazardly assembled Nigerian side who failed to make an impact at the tournament on the heel of other losses to USA and Mexico.
Fifteen years earlier at Moscow 80, Colombia had also run away with a 1-0 victory over Nigeria with Cordona sealing the tie in the 85th minute.
"Colombia is a major force in football. And in our considered opinion the match would not only boost the Eagles for the second round of the World Cup campaign, we will also be aiming to see if we can beat the Colombians bearing in mind their record over us. Amodu graciously accepted the plan after it was discussed with him. He said he had met them before and will be keen to send out his best players against them for the rematch," Ogunjobi said.
Ogunjobi's position was also corroborated by Eagles assistant coach Daniel Amokachi who told THISDAYSports yesterday that the national technical crew was looking forward to the Colombian match once the NFF has tied up the necessary arrangements because the Los Cafeteros is a side that plays robust football.
"The chief (Amodu) and every one of us have resolved to make use of the next FIFA window and in our view, the Colombians who beat us at the US'95 Gold Cup will present a good test for the Eagles in their march to South Africa 2010," Amokachi said.
Though the Eagles have churned up a 100 per cent result in five Angola/South Africa 2010 matches and have remained unbeaten in six games under Amodu's stewardship, the results have been scuffed at by former Eagles coach Clemens Westerhof who noted that Nigeria has not really faced strong opposition in order to assess their real strength or otherwise.
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