Nigeria/Ethiopia: How the Eagles Will Win Against Ethiopia!
opinion
It is D-day. The die is cast. The boys will now be separated from the men!
After the long wait and endless bragging on all sides the 10 African countries at the final lap of the qualifiers for the World Cup will confront each other this weekend in the first of the two-legged encounters that will determine the 5 to represent Africa in Brazil in the summer of 2014.
All over the continent there is understandable palpable tension.
Last week I made my humble predictions about all the matches and
received a lot of stick from several quarters (not Nigeria) for writing
off the threat of the Ethiopian Antelopes. Well, I am waiting patiently
to either be vindicated or made to eat humble pie after this weekend's
match in Addis Ababa.
The Nigerian team has not gone to sleep even though on paper the Nigeria/Ethiopia match looks like the easiest amongst the 5 matches. The historic records of the past confrontations between them completely favors a Nigerian whitewash even as I think both legs of the matches hold extremely tricky prospects.
The confidence level in the Nigerian team is sky high and has infected the entire country. Yet, everyone knows the match is not going to be straightforward because of a few minefields that exist that must be successfully navigated by the Super Eagles to make the return leg in Calabar, Nigeria, in November a mere formality.
The first is psychological. A bad performance in this first match may spell doom for the losing team, as the second leg would then become a pressure cooker. For both teams unnecessary pressure is totally undesirable. The team that goes into the second leg match with less pressure to win will qualify! It is as simple as that.
That's why for the first time since the World Cup campaign started I notice how every aspect of the Addis Ababa match is being meticulously considered and discussed by Nigerian officials, analysts and commentators - state of the venue, weather conditions, altitude and its effect, state of the pitches, etc. For the first time also, usually distractive issues such as match bonuses, allowances, flight tickets, late arrival of invited players and so on, have been muted or completely set aside! So, for the Nigerian team, there can be no excuses for not delivering and cancelling out the 'advantages' that the Antelopes would obviously depend on to cope with the menace of the fast-running forwards of the Nigerian team in Addis.
After the long wait and endless bragging on all sides the 10 African countries at the final lap of the qualifiers for the World Cup will confront each other this weekend in the first of the two-legged encounters that will determine the 5 to represent Africa in Brazil in the summer of 2014.
All over the continent there is understandable palpable tension.
Last week I made my humble predictions about all the matches and
received a lot of stick from several quarters (not Nigeria) for writing
off the threat of the Ethiopian Antelopes. Well, I am waiting patiently
to either be vindicated or made to eat humble pie after this weekend's
match in Addis Ababa.The Nigerian team has not gone to sleep even though on paper the Nigeria/Ethiopia match looks like the easiest amongst the 5 matches. The historic records of the past confrontations between them completely favors a Nigerian whitewash even as I think both legs of the matches hold extremely tricky prospects.
The confidence level in the Nigerian team is sky high and has infected the entire country. Yet, everyone knows the match is not going to be straightforward because of a few minefields that exist that must be successfully navigated by the Super Eagles to make the return leg in Calabar, Nigeria, in November a mere formality.
The first is psychological. A bad performance in this first match may spell doom for the losing team, as the second leg would then become a pressure cooker. For both teams unnecessary pressure is totally undesirable. The team that goes into the second leg match with less pressure to win will qualify! It is as simple as that.
That's why for the first time since the World Cup campaign started I notice how every aspect of the Addis Ababa match is being meticulously considered and discussed by Nigerian officials, analysts and commentators - state of the venue, weather conditions, altitude and its effect, state of the pitches, etc. For the first time also, usually distractive issues such as match bonuses, allowances, flight tickets, late arrival of invited players and so on, have been muted or completely set aside! So, for the Nigerian team, there can be no excuses for not delivering and cancelling out the 'advantages' that the Antelopes would obviously depend on to cope with the menace of the fast-running forwards of the Nigerian team in Addis.
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