By Eddie Akalonu

Former national team goalkeeper, Etta Egbe has told Nigerians not to despair because Super Eagles Could not beat Tanzania, saying that Coach Sunday Oliseh still has room to produce a team not only to qualify the country for the African Cup of Nations in 2017  but also play the competition proper. The Taifa Stars and Eagles played out a goalless draw in Dar es Salaam last weekend in Oliseh’s first outing as handler, forcing eye-brows in some quarters about the country’s chances.

But Egbe, who spoke on telephone said, “We have to accept there is a new man in charge of  Eagles who is trying to mold a team. He will need  time to put a functional team in place. Thanks, we have time in between games for him to give new players space, evaluate our more capped players and make his decisions.” “In that game, I felt that some players were jittery, hence played without

BRAZIL, Campinas : Nigeria’s team members jog during a training session in Campinas, Sao Paulo, on June 18, 2014, during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. AFP PHOTO

confidence, some gave the ball away too quickly. These are normal when you have new people together for the first. Even old ones do have bad days but there is hope because they will overcome these things with time,” he said.

Egbe, who featured for the former Iwuanyanwu Nationale of Owerri and Flying Eagles in his Days urged Oliseh to concentrate on building a strong mid-field and making the attack more lethal, as in his words, we need a good engine room made up of ball blockers reliable play-makers and attacking force that scores goals.

We have always had good defenders. So, If Sunday Oliseh concentrates on making the middle og the  Eagles solid and the front sharp, we will be winning our games. We can still overtake Egypt and get the ticket. However, planning essential to win games ahead. There  are enough games to give us points and the qualification ticket,” he stated