Kickoff (Cape Town)
19 November 2008
Super Eagles head coach, Shuaibu Amodu says he has a team good enough to give Colombia a run for their money in Wednesday's exhibition game at the spanking new Cali International Stadium.
"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 said as he flew into Cali with 12 players on Monday evening.
The players who flew with Amodu 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.
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 being expected as of Tuesday morning. The organizers had secured seats on the Iberia Airline Madrid-Bogota flight of Tuesday for the players.
"Any time we step out, 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," added Amodu.
The Eagles were scheduled to train at the match venue at 10h00 and 21h00 on Wednesday.
The match starts at 21h00 Colombia time (03h00 Thursday in Nigeria), and is meant to open the new Cali International Stadium, which sources say was built at the 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 also certain to see action.
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