Russia 2018 World Cup qualifier: You must make fans happy with goals – Bassey tells Eagles

 

Chukwu faults Oliseh on home boys

TECHNICAL committee member of the nation’s soccer governing body, NFF, and a seasoned sports journalist , Paul Bassey, has tasked the Super Eagles to go goal wire in today’s Russia 2018 World Cup qualifier against Swaziland at the Adokie Amiesiamaka Stadium in Port Harcourt.
Bassey who is away in Congo on FIFA assignment told Daily Sunsports exclusively that Sunday Oliseh and his boys must rise to the occasion today and put smiles on the faces of Nigerians by scoring as many goals as possible, even as he insisted that Nigerian football has not taken a nose dive to the level where the Eagles would be struggling with Swaziland.
“I expect Eagles to beat Swaziland silly. Oliseh and his boys should make the fans happy by scoring goals. Yes, I agree with those who say there are no minnows in African football, but even at that, if we start struggling against a country like Swaziland, then you know there is a big problem. We just saw the Golden Eaglets play good foot- ball in Chile, I expect the Eagles to also get things right at home by roasting Swaziland,” Bassey said.
While Bassey wants goals, former Eagles handler, Christian Chukwu believes, Oliseh is getting things wrong by using only the foreign legion. Chukwu stated that a good number of the home lads called up by Oliseh are good enough to pick shirts and do better.
“If Oliseh had used some of the home lads in Lobamba we would have seen a better Eagles because the home lads would have played better in that terrain. The boys from Europe are not used to the kind of pitch they played in Lobamba,” Chukwu noted.
The winner of today’s game will qualify for the group stage where 20 countries will be drawn into five groups with the winners of each group qualifying for the Russia 2018 World Cup.
One player that is out of today’s game is Rabiu Ibrahim, the mid- fielder who limped out of the action in the first leg due to a knee injury after coming on as a half-time substitute.
“Yes, he has been ruled out. He (Rabiu) will not play,” Oliseh confirmed yesterday.