Oceania champions Tahiti are considered the weakest team in Nigeria's group at the Confederations Cup in Brazil and therefore Nigeria will have to concentrate fully when both sides meet in the second match of the group in Belo Horizonte tomorrow.
“It is a match we know we need to win and, to do that, we need to be fully concentrated. We cannot afford to take any chances. Big shocks have happened before in these kind of tournaments and we don’t want to be the victims this time,” Nigerian defender, Efe Ambrose told fifa.com.
The encounter is coming behind that of world champions, Spain who tackled Uruguay late last night in the group’s first game.
Sixty three years ago, the Brazilian city was the location for one of the biggest upsets in footballing history, USA’s win over England during the 1950 FIFA World Cu. Should Tahiti emulate that result, shockwaves will be felt across world football.
Eddy Etaeta’s Tahiti have been in Brazil since June 7, a clear five days before the Eagles took on Namibia in 2014 World Cup qualifier in Windhoek. The Eagles however were held down while protesting a slash in their bonus and touched down eight days later. But will the extra preparation time benefit the islanders? Only 90 minutes on the pitch will judge.
Nigeria will be looking to take an early lead at the top of Group B by giving their goal difference a significant boost against a team who are 107 places below them in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. With Uruguay and Spain lying in wait, Stephen Keshi’s side will be looking to put their part-time opponents to the sword. Tahiti meanwhile are daring to dream.
This is the pair’s first meeting at international level, although they did square up at the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2009 in Egypt. Nigeria prevailed 5-0 on that occasion, a first-round match held in Cairo when Obiora Nwankwo, Ibok Edet, Kehinde Fatai, Nurudeen Orelesi and Daniel Adejo were on target.
Nigeria are one of two undefeated sides in the FIFA Confederations Cup, the other being Denmark. The then under the tutelage of Shaibu Amodu, went unbeaten in their previous participation in 1995, earning one win, two draws and losing only on penalties to Mexico in the match for third place.
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