By John Egbokhan

Sponsor of the mouth-watering international friendly match between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and Argentina, Guinness Nigeria PLC, has told Coach Samson Siasia to ensure that his team live up to the expectations of many passionate fans by holding their own against the south American giants on June 1 at the Abuja National Stadium.

Chairman of the firm, Babatunde Savage, speaking recently in Lagos, said that Nigerians are ardent lovers of football and expect their darling Eagles side to play well against the Argentines.

“Nigeria is a great nation of good people, many of whom are ardent and passionate followers of football.  Not just our own local talent and national team but any game, anywhere in the world, particularly the English Premier League, Champions League, La Liga and of course the Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup tournaments

“Our new coach, Samson Siasia bears a heavy responsibility with the hopes and dreams of the nation pinned on him”, added Savage.

On why the firm decided to throw its hat into packaging the forthcoming match against the highly rated Argentines, Savage said “the recent criticism that even a small country such as Guatemala was reluctant to come to Nigeria to play a friendly has led to a rising swell of voices, from the fans on the street to the Nigerian Football Federation and Siasia himself demanding that Nigeria be given a credible and fair chance to show that they have what it takes.

“So we at Guinness decided to take positive action and reiterate our support for the nation’s fans and our national team”

Also speaking, Managing Director of Guinness, Devlin Hainsworth, said the match was a good base to assess the current state of the Eagles team being assembled by Siasia. He also urged fans to avail themselves of the chance to watch the game live at the Abuja National stadium.

“It will be the event of a lifetime that no true football fan should miss. Argentina, one of the world’s greatest football nations renowned for its touch of genius and creative play,  have never before played on Nigerian soil and as a country that has produced some of the greatest ever footballers, people will be talking about this for a long time to come. And as Argentina was the nation to knock Nigeria out of the FIFA World Cup 2010 there is a lot at stake”.