BY BEN MEMULETIWON
Super Eagles provisional list of 30 have a chance to win a place in Russia 2018 final list of 23 as they take on the Simba of Congo DR in the ancient city of Port Harcourt on Monday evening. The game represents the last opportunity for Nigerian football fans to cheer the Eagles at home before this summer’s FIFA World Cup finals at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium.
Simba’s delegation of 28 players landed in Port Harcourt on Thursday night, boasting they were in Nigeria to give the Super Eagles a good match before the Eagles fly out to London for another friendly this week, and onwards to the World Cup.
Two –time African champions Democratic Republic of Congo are loaded to the hilt with their big –name performers, with only Yannick Bolasie missing. Yannick Bangala, Chancel Mbemba, Aaron Tshibola, Paul-Jose Mpoku and Gael Kakuta, as well as Cedric Bakambu, Britt Assombalonga, Benik Afobe, Kabongo Kasongo and Ben Malango are all in Port Harcourt.
However, the Eagles are in great form and are in no mood to allow anyone desecrate their parade, with Captain Mikel John Obi saying on Sunday that himself and team-mates are supremely motivated to battle any opposition hands down.
“We do not expect the Congolese to be easy opposition. They have a strong team made up of very talented players and we know this is one good opposition for us to confront before going to the World Cup.
“The FIFA World Cup is no picnic. We have to arrive in Russia with a winning mentality and you get that feeling of being ready only after beating strong teams.”
Nigeria’s Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr, has thrown in his own motivational factor by telling his ‘soldiers’ that five players would be cut from the provisional list of 30 after Monday’s encounter, leaving him with only two more to dispense with when announcing the final squad in Bad Tatzmannsdorf, Austria on Monday next week.
This declaration, plus Obi’s assertion of the need for winning mentality, will propel the Eagles to give their all on Monday, against a squad that nearly grabbed a World Cup ticket for itself.
Overhauling Tunisia was always going to be a mountain to climb in their group, but they were almost there when leading the Carthage Eagles 2-0 in Kinshasa, only to concede two second half goals that abbreviated their chances and eventually killed their dream of a trip to Russia.
After training for five days at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo, Rohr and wards arrived Port Harcourt on Saturday night, and were scheduled to train at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium on Sunday evening.
Certainly, the most famous encounter between both countries remains their clash in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia in March 1976, when a young Eagles’ squad thrashed the Cup holders 4-2 to the shock of African football enthusiasts.
Baba Otu Mohammed scored two of those goals, with Sam Ojebode making good from the penalty spot and Thompson Usiyen getting Nigeria’s other goal. In that squad were the likes of Joe Erico, Sani Mohammed, Godwin Odiye, Idowu Otubusin, Kelechi Emeteole, Ojebode, Muda Lawal, Aloysius Atuegbu, Haruna Ilerika, Baba Otu, Usiyen and Kunle Awesu.
EAGLES UNDER ROHR
Nigeria 1 Tanzania 0 (Uyo: AFCON Qualifier)
Zambia 1 Nigeria 2 (Ndola: WC Qualifier)
Nigeria 3 Algeria 1 (Uyo: WC Qualifier)
Senegal 1 Nigeria 1 (London: Friendly)
Corsica 1 Nigeria 1 (Ajaccio: Friendly)
Nigeria 3 Togo 0 (Paris: Friendly)
Nigeria 0 South Africa 2 (Uyo: AFCON Qualifier)
Nigeria 4 Cameroon 0 (Uyo: WC Qualifier)
Cameroon 1 Nigeria 1 (Yaounde: WC Qualifier)
Nigeria 1 Zambia 0 (Uyo: WC Qualifier)
Algeria 1 Nigeria 1 (Constantine: WC Qualifier)
Argentina 2 Nigeria 4 (Krasnodar: Friendly)
Poland 0 Nigeria 1 (Wroclaw: Friendly)
Serbia 2 Nigeria 0 (London: Friendly)
SIMBA’S LAST 12 GAMES
DR Congo 1 Morocco 0 (Oyem: AFCON 2017)
Cote d’ Ivoire 2 DR Congo 0 (Oyem: AFCON 2017)
Togo 1 DR Congo 3 (Port Gentil: AFCON 2017)
DR Congo 1 Ghana 2 (Oyem: AFCON 2017)
Kenya 2 DR Congo 1 (Nairobi: Friendly)
DR Congo 2 Botswana 0 (Rabat: Friendly)
DR Congo 3 Congo 1 (Kinshasa: AFCON Qualifier)
Tunisia 2 DR Congo 1 (Rades: WC Qualifier)
DR Congo 2 Tunisia 2 (Kinshasa: WC Qualifier)
Libya 1 DR Congo 2 (Monastir: WC Qualifier)
DR Congo 3 Guinea 1 (Kinshasa: WC Qualifier)
Tanzania 2 DR Congo 0 (Dar es Salaam: Friendly)
NIGERIA/DR CONGO IN HISTORY
5/11/1966: Nigeria 3 DR Congo 2 (Lagos: Friendly)
27/11/1966: DR Congo 1 Nigeria 0 (Kinshasa: Friendly)
1/3/1976: DR Congo 2 Nigeria 4 (Dire Dawa: AFCON 1976)
19/1/1992: DR Congo 0 Nigeria 1 (Ziguichor: AFCON 1992)
2/4/1994: DR Congo 0 Nigeria 2 (Tunis: AFCON 1994)
3/3/2010: Nigeria 5 DR Congo 2 (Abuja: Friendly)
TVS Motorcycle, Big Bull rice for MVP
More motivation is in store for players of the Super Eagles to give their best on Monday, after thenff.com learnt that NFF partners, Simba Group (sole marketers of the popular tricycles, Keke, and motorcycles in Nigeria) and TGI (makers of Big Bull rice) have concluded plans to reward the most outstanding player of the day.
Simba Group officials arrived in Port Harcourt with the expensive Apache TRT 1600 model that will be handed over to the winner, just as TGI have the bags of Big Bull rice that the winner will go home with.
It will be recalled that defender Abdullahi Shehu, who won the Man of the Match award in the Super Eagles’ 2018 World Cup ticket –winning encounter against Zambia in Uyo in October 2017, was rewarded with cash and bags of Big Bull rice.
Already, players of the Super Eagles have set eyes on the Apache TRT 1600 motorcycle and are excited about the prospect of going home with one.
Integrity Multi-Stakeholder Workshop ends in Abuja
A two-day Integrity-In-Sport-Multi-Stakeholder-Workshop has ended in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, with participants brought to speed on latest methods and techniques in combating match fixing and corruption in sports.
The workshop, held at the Denis Hotel, was part of a global capacity building and training programme to assist countries to address the new criminal challenge posed by competition manipulation and other threats to the integrity of sport. The programme was also meant to foster collaboration between law enforcement agencies, the National Olympic Committee, National Sports Federations, public authorities, the betting industry and other actors involved in preventing the infiltration of crime into sport, particularly as related to competition manipulation.
At the workshop were officials of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Interpol, National Olympic Committee, Nigeria Football Federation (represented by the National Integrity Officer, Dr. Christian Emeruwa and Head of Legal Unit, Barrister Okey Obi), other sports federations, EFCC, ICPC and sports betting companies. The focus was on the development of a strategy to combat match manipulation within Nigeria and Ghana.
The NFF was identified as the lead agency in the fight against match manipulation, based on its various activities in this area. The workshop enabled networking among sport entities and security agencies to elaborate on methods for combating corruption and match fixing in sport.
Among the objectives of the workshop was the identification of key stakeholders needed for the development of a coordinated national approach in Nigeria and Ghana that protects the integrity of sport, development of knowledge and understanding of the global threat from competition manipulation and illegal/irregular sports betting, and identification of ways of preventing and responding to possible breaches of integrity by identifying key actions required to more effectively protect sport.
