19 November 2008
Lagos — Super Eagles Head Coach, Shaibu Amodu says he has a team good enough to give Colombia a run for its money in Wednesday's friendly international between the two teams at the spanking-new Cali International Stadium.
He said: "Our expectations are high going into this match. The good thing is that Nigeria has so many good players all over the world and at any point in time, we can call up so many for a particular assignment.
"For sure, we will miss a couple of the veterans who are not here for one reason or the other but we have a team to go in there and dig its feet into the ground." Amodu flew away to Cali with 12 players last Monday evening. The players who flew with him aboard the Iberia Airline flight from Madrid were Goalkeeper Austin Ejide, defenders Apam Onyekachi, Obinna Nwaneri and Dele Adeleye; midfielders Sani Kaita, Kalu Uche, Femi Ajilore and Christian Obodo, and strikers Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Ikechukwu Uche, Solomon Okoronkwo and Joseph Akpala. Already on ground before their arrival were defenders Taye Taiwo and Danny Shittu. The organisers arranged for the seats on the Iberia Airline Madrid-Bogota flight.
On Monday night, team captain Nwankwo Kanu flew into Bogota from Atlanta, United States of America, and was on the 30-minute flight from Bogota to Cali early on Tuesday. Only two players, new goalkeeper Obi Evans Ngemba and striker Obinna Nsofor were still being expected in camp as at yesterday morning.
To buttress the fact that the team was ready to make the encounter a go-for-win one, Amodu made out the era of considering this type of match, as a friendly game or exhibition one, is past. "These days, any time we step out, we realise that we carry the image of the country with us. We cannot afford to treat any game as 'friendly', because at the end of the day, the result will count and it is the name of Nigeria that is attached to whatever result is posted," added Amodu.
The team would have had their time to train on the match pitch by 10 a.m. and 9 p.m. of today, Wednesday. The match, which kicks off 9 p.m. Colombian time (3 a.m. Thursday in Nigeria), is meant to open the new Cali International Stadium. Sources say the stadium was built at a cost of $75 million.
From all indications, the young guns who took Nigeria all the way to runners-up spot at the Beijing Olympics in August could see good action, with Apam Onyekachi, Sani Kaita and Solomon Okoronkwo likely to start, while Dele Adeleye, Femi Ajilore and Nsofor certain to see action.
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