Ahead of AFCON 2015 Qualifier: FULL HOUSE AT EAGLES CAMP

By George Aluo

Early arrival! That was what the foreign based players called up by Sunday Oliseh for this weekend’s AFCON qualifier against Tanzania made to the team’s Abuja camp last night.

The team which is expected to jet out aboard a charter flight to Dar es Salaam on the eve of the game was billed to resume training this morning. Before the arrival of the foreign legion, Oliseh who was in Ibadan at the weekend to watch 3SC versus Abia Warriors Glo Premier League game had six home lads in camp.

Al Ain of Dubai striker Emmanuel Emenike was one of the five early birds to hit camp.

Also in by the early hours of yesterday were former Dolphins attacker Emem Eduok, Kingsley Madu, Moses Simon and Rabiu Ibrahim.

Other players that were in camp before dinner include Anthony Ujah, Leon Balogun, Ahmed Musa and Obiora Nwankwo.

All players announced their arrival at the Frankfurt Airport in Germany enroute Abuja through the Instagram page of Werder Bremen striker, Anthony Ujah.

The Tanzania game would be the first for Oliseh. Nigeria goes into the game with three points garnered from the home win over Chad in June. Egypt, which is the team’s biggest threat in the group also had three points having beaten Tanzania in Cairo.

Owolabi warns…

Tanzania can frustrate Nigeria

BY EMMA NJOKU

Ex-international, Felix Owolabi (MON); has warned the Super Eagles not to expect to run over the Taifas of Tanzania when both teams clash on Saturday in Dar es Salaam in Round 2 of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series.

Nigeria won four in six previous meetings with Tanzania in international football with two of the matches ending in draws. But Owolabi, fondly called Owoblow after his heroics in his heyday, cautioned the Sunday Oliseh-tutored Eagles not to be carried away by the past results, stressing that the current Tanzanian squad could frustrate Nigeria’s campaign for a ticket to the continental soccer fiesta billed for Gabon in 2017, after the Eagles failed to qualify for the last edition in Equatorial Guinea.

“We played against Tanzania in my days in the national team and I recall the last time we met them in Dar es Salaam was in 1980, and we won 2-0. From experience, the Tanzanian team may not be fantastic, but if taken for granted, they can frustrate the Super Eagles,” Owolabi warned.

Saturday’s match would be Sunday Oliseh’s first in charge as the Super Eagles’ head coach since taking over from Stephen Keshi. Asked what he expects from the new Eagles’ gaffer, Owoblow responded thus:

“It’s really about Sunday Oliseh; however, as Super Eagles’ coach, he represents 170million Nigerians and it’s our desire for him to succeed. My advice to him is to concentrate on how to succeed. He should talk less and do more.

“Keshi made a mark as Super Eagles’ coach; whether anybody likes it or not, he remains the most successful indigenous coach with Super Eagles team. Keshi’s achievement should serve as a benchmark for Oliseh, if he cannot improve on Keshi’s record, he must not fall short of it.

“Keshi built his team around players in the domestic league and succeeded. I expect Oliseh to follow the same template if he hopes to succeed. In any case, I have no issues with the players he invited for the game against Tanzania provided they fit into his philosophy of the game and would give him the results we all want.”