By Jacob Ajom
As the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, continues with the process of hiring a new head coach for the senior national team, former Nigeria internationals, Austin Eguavoen and Mutiu Adepoju have said it is possible for the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia but the team must raise their game.

In separate chats with Sports Vanguard in Lagos last week, the duo said that the African World Cup qualifying group which has Algeria, Cameroon, Zambia and Nigeria was nothing extra-ordinary as one team must  qualify.

“No doubt, it looks tough, but we have faced similar situations in the past,” Adepoju said, recalling, “we qualified for the 1994 World Cup in Algeria, in front of their fans and I believe we can repeat that ’94 feat because we have the players who are youthful and motivated by hunger for success.”

Continuing, Adepoju said, “the boys must up their game and should be wary of errors. We have to bring out our character, the never-say-die Nigerian character. Qualification is achievable.”

On his part, Eguavoen, a former captain of the national team was not too optimistic even as he believes with a good start to the qualifying campaign, the Super Eagles could win the group’s solitary slot.

“We have a strong group. Everything would hinge on how they begin in Lusaka against the Chipolopolo. A win, or even a draw in Zambia could give them a psychological edge over their subsequent opponents.”

Eguavoen called on the NFF to speed up the process of getting a new coach for the team as there is no time between now and when the qualifiers would begin. “Preparations must start in earnest. The new coach must come on board fast as there is no time to waste.”