Don’t lose hope in F/Eagles, Akande tells Nigerians

By KATE OBODO

Former Falcons coach and now technical adviser to Crown FC of Ogbomosho Niyi Akande is not entertaining any fear on the chances of the Flying Eagles at the FIFA World Cup which begins on Sunday in Colombia.

Despite not getting good results at the just concluded Four-Nations Tournament, the Oyo based tactician opined in a chat with Saturday Vanguard Sports that Nigerians should not use their poor results at the Pre-World Cup as a yardstick to make conclusions on their chances.

Recalling that the same team conquered the Africa Continent recently and can still do the same at the 2011 World Cup in Colombia, he urged the coach, John Obuh to be more focused and be careful about his opponents particularly Guatemala.

“The poor performance of the Flying Eagles may have set the minds of many Nigerians for their failure at the World Cup but sometimes the game of football may be different,” he said.

“The Flying Eagles may have done badly in their preparation for the World Cup but at the same time we should remember that majority of the players graduated from U-17 to U-20. This is to say that there is continuity in the team. They also emerged as Africa Champions. I think what they need now is for the coach to build in them the confidence to know that they can go far in the competition.

In all, I have absolute confidence in Obuh that he will perform very well at the World Cup. I believe they can go beyond the expectation of Nigerians,” Niyi said