President of Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaji Aminu Maigari has charged the Super Eagles to go all out against Argentina on Wednesday and ensure a place in the 2014 FIFA World Cup’s Round of 16.
Speaking in Sao Paulo on Monday, Nigeria’s football supremo says he would be the most delighted with a favourable outcome as the match-day falls on his birthday.
“My birthday is on the day we are playing Argentina, and I would feel very special if we defeat the Argentines. But more than that, a place in the Round of 16 at this World Cup finals would bring joy to the entire NFF delegation and the good people of Nigeria back home.
“We have so many reasons to go all out on Wednesday. The Argentines have always beaten us at the FIFA World Cup, though narrowly each time. We also need to show our true strength as the champions of Africa,” Maigari said.
Victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina took the African champions to second place in the pool with four points, but they must still avoid defeat against the two –time world champions in Porto Alegre to be certain of a place in the knock –out stages.
Nigeria lost 1-2 to Argentina in Boston, USA on June 25, 1994, and were then pipped 1-0 courtesy of a Gabriel Batistuta goal in Ibaraki, Japan on June 2, 2002. When both sides met in South Africa four years ago, an early goal by Gabriel Heinze condemned the Eagles to a 1-0 defeat.
However, Nigerians retain sweet memories of the 4-1 defeat the Eagles handed to Argentina in a friendly in Abuja on June 1, 2011, and a step down the ladder, the U-23 team edged Argentina 3-2 to claim Africa’s first Olympic football gold, in Atlanta 18 years ago.
“It will not be easy, but then, we did not come here thinking any match would be easy. One philosopher once said that when the going gets tough, the tough gets going.
“Our commitment is to continue to pump up the spirit of the players so that they will get better as we move ahead in the tournament. With the win over Bosnia-Herzegovina, we have now reclaimed our winning mentality and it would be difficult to stop the Eagles flying all the way,” stated Maigari.
Amadu commends ‘One Match At A Time’ approach
General Secretary of Nigeria Football Federation, Barrister Musa Amadu, has applauded the resolve of the Super Eagles to approach it one game at a time at the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals, saying the approach has been working and will work well to take Nigeria far in the tournament.
Getting ahead of themselves has worked against Nigeria previously, when players naively thought they already reached the quarter finals and became quite casual, allowing Italy to equalize and eventually trump a Round of 16 game in USA 20 years ago.
The attitude was also at play in France four years later, with players haggling over money for a potentially –explosive quarter final clash with Brazil before the Round of 16 meeting with Denmark in Paris.
“The approach of taking it one match at a time is excellent. That has worked well for us in the first two matches. It will also work for us against Argentina and take us very far in the competition,” Amadu said on Monday.
Working hard and playing for one another, the African champions brought to an end their nine match winless streak at the FIFA World Cup by pipping Bosnia-Herzegovina in Cuiaba on Saturday.
Apart from the bringing the dubious record to an end, Nigeria is also the only African team to earn four points from its first two matches in Brazil.
Also, as at Monday morning, only Nigeria and Mexico had not conceded a goal in the 32 –nation finals that started on June 12.
Before their victory on Saturday, Nigeria had not won a match at the FIFA World Cup since beating Bulgaria 1-0 at the Parc des Prince in Paris on June 19, 1998.
“I have confidence that we will go ahead and create several other records in this competition, going by the fact that the Super Eagles have picked up in form. When the Eagles are in form, no one can stop them,” Amadu maintained.
Before the match with the Bosnians, NFF President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari had expressed optimism that the African champions would pick up the three points, as the unyielding Nigeria spirit comes to the fore when much is expected.
It would be recalled that the Super Eagles also started slowly at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, drawing with Burkina Faso and Zambia, before going ahead to defeat Ethiopia, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali and Burkina Faso to claim the title.
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