By Ime Bassey
Former Super Eagles and BCC Lions of Gboko midfielder, Moses Kpakor has asked the team to beat Ghana in the August 9 friendly match in Watford, London.

Kpakor, a winner of the 1990 Mandela Cup (African Cup Winners Cup) with BCC Lions of Gboko in Tunis against Club Africain, said that the team will not be under pressure in the tie.

He charged the Eagles not to see the game as a friendly match but one in which the country’s image might be redeemed.

“We should beat Ghana this time around. Siasia should not look at it is a friendly match. I know it is going to be a very tough match following the rivalry that has been for decades. I saw the players that were invited and I know they are experienced enough to understand what it takes to play this kind of a game. “I do not think they are under any pressure.

Before we lost to Ghana in the Nations Cup in Angola, we had an upper hand against them but they have been able to turn the tide now. We shouldn’t be under pressure since we have a new coach from the  last time we lost to them. Siasia is a very good coach and hasn’t done badly so far. I know he is playing one of our arch rivals for the first time as a coach after the Nations Cup but he needs to prepare a team that can go places,” Kpakor said.

Commenting on the must win encounter in Antananarivo, Kpakor said, “We were not doing that bad before he (Siasia) came in and we can pardon him for any flaws experienced in the qualifiers. But he is somebody I know and I think we will be able to achieve a good result there. The stakes are high and we mustn’t forget that Nigerians know how to perform when the chips are down.

Sparing his thought on the agreed friendly against Argentina in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the silver medalist at the 1990 African Nations Cup in Algiers said, “I don’t think that should be an excuse at all, we have good players that can come anytime and play.

Except we are saying we should have a stereo typed Nations Cup like we used to have before,” Kpakor added.