By Philips Adefioye
Assistant coach of the Super Eagles, Fatai Amoo has said the team will spring a big surprise at both the Africa Nations Cup slated for Angola next month and the World Cup in South Africa in June.

Amoo, in an exclusive telephone interview with Saturday Vanguard sports said that the Eagles are going to the Nations Cup to prove their critics wrong, a performance that is going to rub off  positively on their outing on the bigger stage at the World Cup in June.

The former Julius Berger handler hinted that the fact that Nigeria is grouped with Argentina, Greece and South Korea does not matter, adding that “Argentina are beatable despite their array of stars. We are not going there to complete the number of the countries participating but we are going their to be among the best, if not the best.

“In 2002 at the Korea/Japan World Cup, first timers, Teranga Lions of Senegal defeated the defending champions France in the opening match. Argentina is a very solid team, no doubt about it. We played Argentina before, twice at the senior level at the World Cup both in USA 1994 and Korea/Japan 2002, though we lost narrowly. The Super Eagles will spring a surprise this time around,” he said.

The former Green Eagles player said that the Africa Nations Cup in Angola will not be a child’s play, pointing out that the players are in high spirit and would not toy with the competition.

“I could remember when I was coaching Julius Berger Football Club. During the FA Cup, immediately my team defeated the defending champions, Dolphins Football Club of Port Harcourt, that gave us a lot confidence to go as far as to the final to win the cup that year in 2006.

“The same with Egypt who are the Nations Cup defending champions. In our opening match against them, I don’t see the Pharaohs beating us. I must tell you, when you file out against a tough opposition and you able to conquer, the level of your confidence will rise. In that group, our boys are more exposed than any other team there,” he said.

‘Our ambition is to win the Nations Cup. God is the only one who determines a winner. I am not a forecaster but I want to go there and win,”said Amoo.

The ex-Sunshine Football Club of Akure coach figured out that the local players in the Premier League would also be invited for the camping though it might be marginal. Three of them were last minutes inclusion in the list released by Shaibu Amodu on Tuesday.