Super Eagles Warm up for Stallions’ Test

After forcing Senegal to a 1-1 draw at the Hive Stadium in London, Super Eagles will on Monday take on the Stallions of Burkina Faso in a match some analysts are already comparing to the final of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in which Nigeria won by a lone goal to lift the AFCON for the fourth time.

However, former Nigerian international, Paul Okoku said comparing Monday’s encounter to the final of 2013 AFCON would just be putting unnecessary pressure on the players.

“For the first time in many years, the Nigeria Football Federation is getting its priority right by organising friendly matches for the Eagles that would put them in proper shape ahead of future games. The games against Senegal and Burkina Faso are to put the team in shape ahead of the 2019 AFCON and World Cup qualifiers against South Africa and Cameroon respectively,” Okoku told THISDAY from his base in the United States.

“The outcome of Monday’s encounter does not really matter, the game is just an opportunity for the coaches to assess the new players and strategise for the upcoming matches. Gernot Rohr has been going about his job the right way by keeping the team busy, which is what some of us have been agitating for before now,” he noted.

“Though some players the coach would have loved to see were not on parade against in the first friendly but he must have identified one or two new players that might don the country’s colours in the nearest future,” the 1984 AFCON silver medalist said.

Meanwhile, Rohr has stated that he was impressed with the outcome of the friendly match with Senegal in London. In his post-match press conference inside the bowels of The Hive Stadium, he spoke on a wide range of questions arising from the match.

“We chose to play Senegal because of their physicality as we will be playing Cameroon in our next qualifiers. It was great to see how our players stood up to the challenge of playing teams like these. I was happy with them in that respect,” Rohr explained.

On the subject of Cameroon who are now African champions and whether that factor changes the dynamics going into that qualifier “most definitely” Rohr said.

“Now they have more confidence. They have players who have the belief that being champions brings but we know that if we are to win in Cameroon it will give us a great chance of being at the World Cup,” the Nigeria head coach said.

Rohr also provided updates on the state of Ogenyi Onazi who

The coach praised his players’ attitude and commitment “considering that we played one of the best sides in Africa at the moment and who have been together in competitive matches only six weeks ago while we haven’t played for four months.”

He was a bit worried about the lack of game time for most of his players at their clubs currently. He said: “Most of my players are not playing regularly at the moment at their clubs which was why they were slow to get into the game after the kickoff but they later flowed into it. I believe that the performance will even be better against Burkina Faso.”