Erstwhile Super Eagles skipper Austin Jay Jay Okocha will be joining the team’s camp in Abuja ahead of tomorrow’s Angola/South Africa 2010 World Cup qualifying match against Equatorial Guinea.
Although the former Eagles playmaker is not returning to fight for a place in Coach Shaibu Amodu’s starting line-up, the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) confirmed last night that Okocha will be in Abuja to boost the players, who are determined to end the campaign without dropping a point.
Ademola Olajire, chief media officer of the NFA confirmed to THISDAYSports last night that Okocha, whose testimonial game is billed for next Thursday in Warri, will meet with the players before the match and also be physically present at the stadium to cheer them to victory.
“Austin Okocha will be at the players’ camp before the match and also be present at the main bowl to see how they will fare against Equatorial Guinea on Saturday. It going to be a morale booster, most especially for the younger generation who didn’t meet him at the senior national team,” said the NFA spokesman.
Okocha, who just ended his stint at Hull FC last season, is to be honoured next week by the Super Eagles players at the testimonial, which will also feature some other top African players.
Even as the NFA image-maker could not confirm the arrival of injured Danny Shittu in Abuja, the Watford FC of England defence ace was reported to also be on the way to Abuja to cheer his colleagues against the visitors from Central Africa.
Meanwhile, Super Eagles Head Coach Amodu says he sees no different scenario from what happened last weekend playing out tomorrow.
“I don’t foresee any problem whatsoever. It’s true that we have a couple of injuries and came out of Malabo with a couple of knocks, but everyone will be fine and ready,” said Amodu.
Nigeria goes up against Equatorial Guinea having amassed nine maximum points from their first three matches of the World Cup/Nations Cup qualifying campaign.
“It’s a dream start, but we’re not dreaming yet. We want to do the business on the pitch, and then we can start thinking of what the reality will be when the final phase begins.”
Yakubu Aiyegbeni returned to training yesterday with the rest of the Super Eagles squad ahead of tomorrow's game.
Yakubu had been given a one-day extension by Amodu and so did not resume with the rest of the rest of the squad on Wednesday but was back in camp in time for yesterday's training session.
Amodu spent most of the session working on tactics and movement with his players while also correcting some of the positional errors noticed during the last game in Malabo.
Yakubu's return was not the only piece of positive news for the Nigeria technical crew, as all players showed no signs of injury or illness, leaving the coaches with a selection headache ahead of tomorrow's game.
And in a related development, a one-hour media session with the players has been scheduled for midday today at the NICON Luxury hotel.
Eagles will pick an early ticket for the final phase of the African qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup finals if they defeat Equatorial Guinea on Saturday and neither Sierra Leone nor South Africa triumphs in their match-up in Pretoria on the same day.
With nine points from three matches, Nigeria lead Group 4 by six points, with South Africa, Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone on three points each.
A win would take the Eagles to 12 points, with only two matches remaining for each contender in the pool. Should Sierra Leone and South Africa draw, they will remain on four points each, no longer able to assail the Eagles. Even if one of the two teams triumphed in South Africa tomorrow, the Eagles will still finish ahead in the group if they avoid defeat against South Africa in September.
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