Lagos — The Chief Coach of the Super Eagles Shaibu Amodu has assured Nigerians that all it would take the team to win in Angola is getting full support from Nigerians and the media in particular. He made the assertion in a media parley in Lagos put together by Eagles official candy Tom Tom.

"The team is not losing matches and qualified for the World Cup which means that no matter what anybody says there is something very good about the team. The players need confidence to achieve results and the pressure from the media and fans cannot help us get up there. I have a team that is building up gradually by the day and all we need now is support.

"In Kenya we saw a team that could fight to win and I guess that is where we can continue from," Amodu said.

Even though the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has set a target of getting at least to the semi finals in Angola, Amodu is sure he has the materials to go beyond that level.

"It is the ambition of every coach to win a competition and that is the mentality I am taking to Angola. We are looking above that target set for us."

The matter of the home-based players and those based in the Europe brought up a long debate as Amodu explained his stand on the matter. The Eagles coach said he never categorically ruled out the home boys from picking up shirts to Angola.

"People just want me to say they will make the team even before they enter camp which is a big lie. People don't want to hear the truth. These players may be good but sincerely those playing in the bigger leagues in Europe stand the better chance to make the team and that is the truth nobody wants to hear.

"Our football is far above the issue of home based and foreign based players. I don't want our football being reduced to that debate. It is quite discriminatory. I rose from the Nigerian league system - I am a proud product of the league. I don't need to go round for me to understand that the standard of the Nigerian domestic league has fallen. It is bare fact.

"The pitches are bad; many of the players are owed so much money and they travel under harsh conditions. Players coming from such atmosphere already have psychological challenge to deal with in the face of competition with those coming from advanced system. So the time is too short to mentally prepare and integrate such players to feature in such a very big platform as the African Nations Cup. For these players to move from our league to the World Cup they need proper psychological build up to make them believe in themselves.

That is the simple truth. Football is not just about skills only but the condition of the mind matters. That is the truth and that is why I say seven days is quite a short time to achieve this no matter how you want to do it," Amodu said