Two-goal hero in the Super Eagles
victory over Ethiopia, Victor Moses, and Villarreal striker Ike Uche say
the quarterfinal match against Ivory Coast on Sunday will not be
one-sided. They warned that having crossed the group stage, Nigeria will
be hard to dismiss.
They spoke just as the Nigerian camp
remained in suspense over the exact official decision on Mikel Obi
concerning his eligibility for the next game. The Confederation of
African Football was yet to make a clear statement on Mikel by last
night.
On Ivory Coast, Moses said, “It’s going
to be a big match that the whole Africa will look out for. Our game is
not entirely low in this competition and gradually, we are coming into
the game fully.
“Our opponents have great players and
good record in the first round. We did suffer a bit but that’s that. We
are starting all over again and I can assure you that you can’t just
dismiss Nigeria like that. We will respect them as great team but we are
not behind them. It’s a quarterfinal match of the Nations Cup and you
have to respect that.”
Speaking on the crucial match, Uche said it was a difficult fixture that could not be avoided.
“It’s not easy when you have two great
teams in the quarterfinals of a competition because one big team must go
home. We are preparing for the game but until that day, there is
nothing really to say. We all know the quality of the opponents, they
have big stars like Didier Drogba and Yaya Toure but we also have our
own players as well.
“Everyone talks about Drogba but he is
just one of the many good players in the team. It’s not all about him.
They have their plans and our coach has his own plan for the match. We
are footballers and we are confident that we are going to move on.”
But even as the players get set, there
is uncertainty in the Eagles camp over the availability of Mikel for the
quarterfinal clash on Sunday.
CAF Executive Media Officer Emmanuel
Maradas said after Eagles’ 2-0 victory over Ethiopia on Tuesday that
Mikel could miss the cracker having got two yellow cards in the first
round.
He said, “Mikel has two yellow cards and
I am not sure he will be eligible to play the quarterfinals. But I have
no definite answer on this matter. We have to wait till Wednesday when
the technical committee sits on the disciplinary records of all the
teams.”
As at press time on Wednesday, CAF was
yet to issue any official statement on the matter. But it seems that
Nigeria are preparing for the loss of the Chelsea midfielder and Fegor
Ogude, who also has two yellow cards from the first round.
The CAF match statistics recorded only
one yellow card for Mikel. But Maradas, statement on the issue is
causing panic in the Nigerian camp.
Team goalkeeper trainer, Ike Shorunmu said the team had been notified of the development but no official statement from CAF yet.
“We heard it this morning (Wednesday) but we don’t want such thing to affect the team’s preparation for the match,” Ike said.
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