By Gracious Akujobi
Former chief coach of Super Eagles Austin Eguavoen, has predicted that Nigeria will not only qualify for the 2014 World Cup, but would reach the quarterfinal.
In a chat with the media, Eguavoen, who is now the chief coach of National League side City of David (COD) FC, says after winning the African Cup of Nations Super Eagles cannot afford not to be at the World cup especially after experiencing what it means to play at that level with the Confederation Cup in Brazil.
He said the Super Eagles would beat Malawi to set the stage for the final qualifying match, adding that Malawi cannot stand in our way to reaching that final stage.
“Malawi will fall no matter how much they try and Eagles would then go ahead to face one of the unseeded nine other qualifiers for the final phase. Eagles would surely be in Brazil next year”
“I am confident that the Eagles would be in Brazil but they cannot win the world cup. The Eagles should at best get to the quarter finals in Brazil. To get there they must play a lot of friendly matches against European and Asian countries in their build up” he stressed
Meanwhile, Eguavoen has expressed surprise that the home base duo of Sunday Mbah and Godfrey Oboabona have yet to secure clubs in Europe after the success of AFCON.
“I am surprised that there has been little or no major transfer of Nigerian players especially the home based ones who shone at the Nations cup to secure contracts abroad now”
“It is not as if they don’t get offers, it has to do with agents and the players looking for the big pay packet and thereby losing out. My advice is that the home boys should grab any decent chance to play abroad.
“If you ask me, I would say the duo of Oboabona and Mbah should be in Europe now to improve their game and their life because there is no way what they get with their local clubs will be better than that of Europe. They should move now” he said
