Eagles have no excuses — King, Dosu

Eagles have no excuses – King, Dosu 12 Sep 2015 2:34 AM  The qualifiers for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations have become tense for Nigeria despite playing just two games out of six in Group G, which also has Egypt, Chad and Tanzania. While only one team will qualify from the group, Nigeria sit second behind Egypt after winning one game and drawing another. Having garnered four points and two goals from the two games against Chad and Tanzania, the Super Eagles are condemned to win the remaining matches if they must overtake Egypt, who have six points and eight goals advantage after playing same opponents. Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh, said after the Tanzania game that the team had not blended before the game. “We had our shortcomings; the boys did not gel in some areas. But we could see in them that they were determined and ready to make things work,” Oliseh said. The trend in the qualifying series is becoming similar to that leading to the 2015 AFCON finals in which Nigeria failed to qualify, a situation that has become disturbing to many Nigerians, including former internationals Raymond King and Joseph Dosu. “I was stunned, just like every other Nigerian, when we lost to Congo after playing draw with South Africa last year. I pray to God that we qualify for the 2017 AFCON because we’re in a precarious position just as last year’s. We’re in a position where we have to win all the matches left in our group. It will be a daunting task,” King, a former goalkeeper, said. King was even more surprised that Tanzania came close to humiliating the Super Eagles last Saturday, and he praised new goalkeeper Carl Ikeme for saving the day. “I didn’t see Tanzania as a threat but they surprised us. If not for the goalkeeper (Ikeme), we would have been beaten in Dar es Salaam. “I was sceptical about Ikeme, that he might not be confident enough to replace Vincent Enyeama, but I got a relief after watching him in action. I believe he is capable of manning the post anytime. “We’re playing Egypt home and away, we face Tanzania at home, and Chad in another away game. I hope and pray we beat all of them at home, but beating Egypt in Cairo will be difficult.” King believes the friendly matches lined up for the Super Eagles by the Nigeria Football Federation will go a long way in helping coach Sunday Oliseh but warned that the selection of players could be a problem for the team. “The calibre of players that will be involved is what worries me; it’s not about friendlies alone but also about the character of the players,” he said. “The game against Egypt will not be ideal to test players just as Oliseh did with the Tanzania game. He should do that in friendlies. We can’t afford to have trials and errors; he should invite only our best legs. “In football, big-name players are sometime important. You can’t afford to have your top players left out of the squad in order to give room to rookies. In the past, whenever we had the late Rashidi Yekini in the squad, our opponents would always be jittery. Oliseh knows this so he should make amend in that aspect.” Another former goalkeeper, Dosu, does not believe the Super Eagles have any reason not to be in Gabon for the 2017 AFCON. “Oliseh’s first game (against Tanzania) was a draw; if he had lost, that would have meant he started on a bad note. He came home to play a friendly, which he won. That means one win, one draw,” Dosu said. “We all know qualifying for the AFCON is not negotiable; he also wants to go to the Nations Cup. Every game we play we want to win just as our opponents. Our opponents know our strength so they come up with their best whenever they are playing against Nigeria. To some of them, a draw against Nigeria is like winning the championship. “It has always been difficult to play the less-fancied team. An example is Chad, which came here to battle us hard but fell easily to Egypt in Ndjamena. All we have to do is make sure we have a tight team and fit players. We need to step up our game when we face Egypt next year. “It would be worrisome to compare the current situation to the last failed campaign for the 2015 AFCON. We drew against South Africa in Cape Town only to come home and lose against Congo in Calabar. That should never happen when we face Egypt next year. A failure won’t be accepted.” Super Eagles forward, Moses Simon, who made his fifth appearance for the national team against Niger in a friendly played in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, was confident Nigeria will qualify ahead of Egypt. The KAA Gent player, who scored his first international goal in the friendly, said on the NFF website that the team’s preparation was not long enough. He said, “Oliseh believes in the team and the fans. With the fans’ prayers and support, the Super Eagles will achieve greater things. “Normally in football, you win, draw or lose. Sometimes things change in football, against your will. We only trained for about two days before going for the game against Tanzania, even though we didn’t know one another very well in the team. To me, it was a good game because you can’t just bring players together in a short period and expect them to do great things, but we got a draw, which is good.” Simon added, “Egypt didn’t make it to the last AFCON. If we continue to make the improvement in the Eagles, Egypt will not be a problem in the qualifiers.”