11 November 2009
Lagos — Former Nigeria international Victor Ikpeba has disclosed that there should be no concerns about the country's ability to cope with the high altitude in Kenya during this weekend's crucial World Cup qualifier.
Nigeria plan to fly into Nairobi only two days before the game, raising fears that this may not be enough time for the team to acclimatise before the Group 2 match. "One of the talking points leading to the match in Kenya bothers on the high altitude in the Kenyan capital. Ideally, it would be good to train in a similar high altitude place like Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, but if you only need to be in a high altitude place 48 hours before the game, this would amount to a waste of money," the 1997 African Player of the Year said in his column published by FourFourTwo Nigeria magazine.
"We made a mistake of leaving for Johannesburg for our 1994 World Cup qualifier against South Africa four days before the match.
"I was out of the game after only 25 minutes in Johannesburg. I had lost gas, I was bleeding from the nose and my throat was dry. I played from the left wing and I wanted to impress the coach and I did not pace myself accordingly.
"Had we known then that we would be okay if we had left two days before the match, we would have handled the altitude a lot better than we did.
"The best arrangement as it now stands is for us to fly out to Kenya on a chartered flight 48 hours before the match. That way we would be better equipped to cope with the altitude problems."
Ikpeba also predicted that the Super Eagles will get the result they need to qualify for the World Cup.
"Nigeria have the quality players to win in Nairobi, but at the same time, we have to attack by playing a 4-2-4 formation. We have to deploy more players in attack and less in defence because this is like a cup final. We should not worry ourselves with the other game _ Mozambique vs Tunisia.
"This is not to say that we will only have to show up in Nairobi to win. It is often very difficult to win away from home as the other team cannot afford to lose face and their pride in front of their fans.
"What is even more reassuring is that both Mozambique and Kenya want to feature at the Nations Cup in Angola, so there is a lot to play for by all four teams. "The Eagles got a great result in Tunisia in June, but I guess the 2-2 draw with the same team in Abuja shattered their confidence and so by the time they played Mozambique, they did not play as a team. There was no urgency in their play for most part of the game - till the last 20 minutes or so. But at the end of the day, what mattered most were the three points.
"See a team like Argentina, they only qualified for the World Cup on the final day of the qualifiers in South America. It shows that qualifying for the World Cup is a process," concludes Ikpeba.
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