Lagos — As Nigeria's senior national team, the Super Eagles battle to book a place in next year's World Cup in South Africa, ex-international Peter Rufai says it is outright wrong for Nigerians to equate the present squad handled by Coach Shaibu Amodu with the class of 1994 that led the country to her maiden appearance at the Mundial.

Even as the team goes for the broke with the last make or mar group match against Kenya on Nov 14 in Kasarani, Rufai who is perhaps, Eagles' longest serving goal keeper insisted yesterday that the two teams are distinctly different, with each having it's area of strengths and weaknesses.

" Football has changed between then (class of 1994) and now. The 1994 team was a solid squad. There was love, among team members. There was patriotism, seriousness and above all, the right environment for the team to flourish. I am not saying that the present squad does not have such qualities but then, certain neglects on the part of officials and players attitude have combined to make it totally difficult to want to compare then with now," observed Rufai fondly called Dodo Mayana in his days between the posts for Nigeria.

He disclosed at the Sportscity in Lagos that there was no doubt on the quality of players at Amodu's beck. "Most of these players are playing for some of the big teams in Europe and are doing well. I have no doubts about their potentials. Something went wrong in how we handle players matters previously and I am happy this World Cup qualification has corrected that."

Despite the doubts in the land, following the tricky situation the 2-2 draw with Tunisia in Abuja has landed the Eagles ahead of the last games of the Group on November 14, Rufai remains hopeful that Nigeria will make it to South Africa.

" This is the time for us all to rally round Coach Amodu and the team. They need all our support now. They need all our prayers for the team to make it to the World Cup. We need to put aside what happened in the Tunisia match in Abuja and wish for the best for Nigeria," stressed the player who went with the Eagles to both the 1994 and 1998 World Cups in USA and France.

Rufai admitted that altitude of the East African country may pose a problem to the team if the coaches do not plot the right game plan to combat the low oxygen prevalent in that clime.

"Since it is the wish of the Glass House (NFF) to dash into Kenya just 24 hours to the match and leave almost immediately after, the coaches must ensure that only players whose health can withstand the kind of game plan plotted for the Harambee Stars are fielded.

They must be medically sound to be able to absorb the low oxygen intake for the duration of the game, that way; nothing would have been lost by not going ahead on time to acclimatize. I have no fear about Nigeria's victory in Kenya," concludes Rufai even as he admitted that the group ticket will be determined by the result of the game between Mozambique and Tunisia same weekend.

Just on Monday, Coach Amodu called 23 players to camp, with Chidi Odiah as the only returnee to the team that beat Mozambique in Abuja in their last outing at the National Stadium in Abuja.