Despite the disturbing slide in the country's football, especially among the junior male teams and all the strata of the female national teams, former Green Eagles winger, Barrister Adokie Amiesimaka, is confident the Super Eagles will qualify for both the World Cup and Africa Nations Cup scheduled to hold in South Africa and Angola in 2010.

Amiesimaka, who was speaking on a Metro FM sports programme monitored in Lagos, said that despite the dwindling fortunes at the junior levels which he heaped on the door-steps of those managing the nation's football, the Super Eagles are strong and have a solid coach in Shaibu Amodu.

"I have every confidence the Super Eagles will qualify for the World Cup. We have a solid team now and a solid coach in Shaibu Amodu. I don't see us missing the World Cup," the former Sharks FC of Port Harcourt chairman said.

He said that apart from Tunisia who are very good in the Eagles' group, the other teams are not expected to prove too hard nut to crack but added however that the team need to be engaged in quality friendly matches with countries that play similar pattern with the Eagles to tune them up for the big challenges ahead when the second phase of the qualifiers begin next year.

He frowned at the arrangement of friendly matches with foreign teams like the recent one against Colombia when the Eagles' oppositions are African countries.

On his part, former Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Chief Alex Akinyele, has called on those who run the game in the country to act fast on the dwindling fortunes of the junior national teams in order for it not to affect the Eagles fortunes in the World Cup/Nations Cup qualifiers next year. Chief Akinyele said the inability of the home- based Super Eagles to scale the Black Stars of Ghana's hurdle and qualify for the first edition of the Africa Nations Championship scheduled for Cote d'Ivoire next year was a shame.

"When a problem is identified, then there should be a solution. I believe the NFF should have been able to identify the factor affecting the prosperity of the game in the country," he said, adding that the rivalry between Nigeria and Ghana made the loss of the home-based Eagles very painful to Nigerians.

Chief Akinyele, a former Information Minister, commended the NFF for having the courage to employ an indigenous coach to handle the Super Eagles, stressing that the action was the best thing that has come out of the present NFF Board.

"Amodu's employment as the chief coach of the Super Eagles is the best thing that has happened in the NFF board so far in recent years and I want to congratulate them for their foresight and audacity to put Amodu there because there are some people who wanted the re-introduction of a foreign coach ".

The Ondo High Chief however advised Amodu to "carry the team's other technical crew members along and learn to tolerate some of the mediocres who are at the top of football affairs in the country," because "it is not easy to work with mediocres."

He urged the NFF to commence preparation towards the final phase of the 2010 World Cup because no team wants to be a spectator for the other.

"It is not going to be an easy task because there are no more push overs in modern day football, our opponents as well want to qualify. Tunisians, for example, do not joke with the issue of the World Cup. We've learnt our lesson from the last World Cup which we lost the sole ticket (of the group) to Angola, but I would like the NFF to start plotting the fall of these teams in our group and the players as well should have the mentality of winning away games this time around,"said Akinyele.