Amaju Pinnick, President of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, is talking tough about his country’s plans for Ghana in upcoming 2022 World Cup qualification play-offs.
“We will play at the World Cup and give a good account of ourselves. We are not going to Qatar to make up the numbers,” he stated in comments posted on his Twitter handle on Tuesday, February 15.
He outlined efforts that the NFF was putting in place to ensure that the Super Eagles prevail over the Black Stars in the two-legged tie scheduled for March this year.
Among other plans, he travelled with a contingent of the technical team to meet some of the team’s players based in the United Kingdom for crucial talks. Some of the players he met whiles in London included Etebo, Kelechi, Troost and new lad, Lookman.
He also disclosed that the Minister of Sports, Sunday Dare, had joined a zoom meeting with the technical team and some 30 players as part of efforts to strategize for the encounter.
He stressed: “Make no mistake. World Cup qualification is non-negotiable. We are putting all of our efforts on getting the ticket.
“And I’m so proud of the commitment and zeal I’m seeing and getting from the team,” he stressed.
Goal.com analysis of the Ghana vs. Nigeria clash
The West African derby between Nigeria and Ghana is set to be the hottest of all the five playoffs, with no love lost between these two regional heavyweights.
The Black Stars, currently outside Africa’s top 10, are reeling after a miserable Nations Cup in which they were dumped out in the opening round, although they’ll be hoping a new management team can get them back on track as the World Cup looms.
Nigeria looked a different league to their old foe following a superb group-stage campaign in which they took maximum of nine points from their three matches, but they were brought crashing down to earth by Tunisia in the knockout stages.
The Super Eagles surely aren’t going to throw this one away…are they?
Ashantibiz
