Eagles captain Joseph Yobo has said something that should interest Nigerians who are expecting them to maul sierra Leone in tonight’s international friendly in Lagos.

Left: Obinna Nsofor with Obiora Nwankwo during training

New Eagles coach Samson Siasia has a task to build a new team following the poor runs of the Eagles for some years climaxing in their shameful outing at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

“We are playing on a pitch that is new to most of us. We are playing with some new players. It is a new era and as such there’s nothing much to say. It may not be fair to expect wonders from the team. Building a new team takes time and here we are. I hope that Nigerians will understand. The important thing is the job of building a new team and coming out strong in the near future and not this friendly. But we shall try to make the fans happy.”

What Yobo didn’t add is that they also have a new coach.

Sports administrators fooled the Nigerian government by saying that world football governing body, FIFA, insisted on artificial turfs for the World U-17 World Cup Nigeria hosted two years ago.

FIFA never did. They only suggested that “since Nigeria could not maintain natural pitches, they could instal artificial pitches”. The turfs won many of them business. Artificial turfs are usually hard and top professionals avoid them because of injuries.

Nsofor, Nwankwo injured

Obinna Nsofor whose performance for West Ham of England has won him more fans in Nigeria may not be on duty against Sierra Leone in tonight’s friendly match at Teslim Balogun Stadium.

While Eagles trained yesterday Nsofor had ice packs on his ankle following an injury. It was same with  Obiora Nwankwo who was in line for his first cap.

Nsofor had vowed to score against Sierra Leone. The ankle  injury may have scuttled that.