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Eagles determined to win Ghana 2008
tournament
Takoradi, Jan. 30, Ghandot/GNA -
The Super Eagles of Nigeria has called their teeming fans to
stand solidly behind the team in its determination to win
the ultimate at the ongoing Ghana 2008 African Cup of
Nations.
"We owe our fans the duty to give of our best and prove that
we are currently the best on the Continent," Mr Peterside
Idah, Media Officer of the Nigerian national team, told GNA
Sports in Takoradi on Wednesday.
Mr Idah said the Team's encounter with the Black Stars at
the quarterfinals stage would be a motivation for the team
since "playing with Ghana had always been a motivation on
its own".
"We are going to black-out the Black Stars to the surprise
of connoisseurs and fans and to prove a point," he said in
reference to Sunday's encounter.
On the general performance of the Super Eagles in the
tournament, Mr Idah admitted that he did not believe that
they could qualify to the quarterfinals due to the
lacklustre performance of the team.
He said Cote d'Ivoire did his team a "technical favour" by
beating Mali in the last "Group B" match in Accra on
Tuesday.
Mr Idah said the Super Eagles had to step up their game to
ensure victory over Benin only after they had heard that the
Elephants were ahead of Mali after the first half.
"Come Sunday and we are going to prove that the recent 4-1
victory of the Black Stars over the Super Eagles was a
fluke", he said.
Nigeria accounted for Benin 2-0 in their last "Group B"
encounter at the Essipon stadium on Tuesday to give them a
quarterfinal berth in the soccer competition.
Mikel Obi and Yakubu Ayigbeni found the net for their side
in the second half of the game after an uneventful first
half.
In a related development, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, Omanhene of
Essikado and Chairman of the Sekondi-Takoradi Venue
Organisation Committee (STVOC), has stressed that the major
winner of the ongoing competition should be Africa.
He said he believed that football could be used to
accelerate the efforts for continental unity, adding; "the
joy about soccer is that we throw away all our differences
and think about ourselves as one people".
Nana Nketsia was speaking during an interaction with foreign
sports journalists at the Essipon stadium, near Sekondi on
Tuesday.
The interaction was organised to assess the performance of
the STVOC since the beginning of the tournament on January
20.
The journalists complained about lack of transport
arrangement from the hotels in Takoradi to and from the
stadium before and after matches.
They also spoke about poor sitting arrangements where fans
sometimes evaded the areas allocated to the media, thereby
causing a lot of embarrassment.
Nana Nketsia promised to address the issues immediately and
asked the journalists to approach his office in case they
encountered any difficulties.
GNA
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