Tijani Babangida:
A former international, Tijani Babangida has assured that despite uninspiring performances in their warmup matches, Nigerians will see a better Super Eagles squad at the ongoing 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. The member of 1996 Atlanta Olympics gold winni
SLike any other patriotic Nigerian, my expectations are very high. I am expecting the Super Eagles to do very well in Russia. For most Nigerians, expectations are high because of the way we qualified for the world Cup. The Eagles took everybody by surprised by winning almost all their matches. As a matter of fact, they topped their group with a game on this, the expectations of Nigerians are very high. Personally, I have hope in this young team.
I was not surprised that they did not do well especially in their last match against Czech Republic because when a player is going into an important competition, he focuses completely on the tournament. He thinks about what he is going to do and how to do it. He wants to give all his best at the biggest stage. He therefore prepares himself and wants to make a name for himself. Playing friendly matches close to the world Cup won’t bring out the best in the players because everyone tries to play safe. If one sustains injury that will end his World Cup dreams, it will be a devastating. Players know this and I am sure it is one of the reasons the Eagles didn’t put in their best in the friendly matches. Nigerians will see different Eagles at the World Cup.
Well, Argentina with Messi is always something else. All we should pray for is for Messi to have a bad day. Nobody can do anything about Messi. No coach or player can stop Messi. Messi is from another world. You can only pray for a bad day for Messi. Everybody knows who Messi is. The opening match should be like a final match for the Eagles. The reason is that they are in a very tough group and they need to win their opening match to stand any chance of progressing out of the group. They have Argentina which everybody is talking about, then Croatia the second toughest team in the group and Iceland which are no pushover. If they win against Croatia, they would have taken a bold step towards the second round already. They would need to win one more game to be in the second round. However, if they lose against Croatia in the opening match, it would make things very difficult for them. I hope they will win. They just need to get something out of the match against Croatia. Anything less than a point won’t be good for the Super Eagles.
Nobody can do anything about Messi. No coach or player can stop Messi. Messi is from another world. You can only pray for a bad day for Messi
I can say a lot. They have experienced the World Cup. They were part of the team to the 2014World Cup in Brazil. As a matter of fact, Ahmed Musa scored two goals in the 2-3 loss to Argentina. They are leading the team so they have to guide the boys to fight from the beginning to finish. The world Cup is for the best players in the world.
My message to them is simple. Nigerians are waiting for them. They have raised our hopes. We didn’t have any until they qualified for the world Cup in grand style. They should go and show the world what they can do. They have proved themselves on the continent. Now it is the time to go and prove that they are among the best teams in the world.