Okpara predicts tough match for Super Eagles
Nigeria’s German head coach Gernot Rohr arrives to attned The Best FIFA Football Awards ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall in London on September 24, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Adrian DENNIS
Former Super Eagles assistant coach, Slyvanus Okpara, has warned the team to expect a tough battle against Libya in today’s Cameroon 2019 AFCON qualifiers in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
Okpara, who urged the Nigeria side to approach the match with determination, declared that The Mediterranean Knights are tactically organized, adding that they have the quality that can surmount the Super Eagles at home owing to their outstanding performance against Seychelles and South Africa in the race so far.
Drawing from the Libya’s last qualifier against South Africa, Okpara noted that the Libyan team out played the Bafana Bafana in all departments of the game to secure a draw.
He charged the Super Eagles not to see themselves as superior to the Libyans based on their club pedigrees, adding that current form, not ‘big names’ guarantees success of a team in a match situation.
“The game against Libya will be tough. When I watched the Libyans played against South Africa in their last AFCON qualifier, they totally outshined their host. I must confess the Libyan team is a good side.
One thing that is going well for them is that the players have been playing together consistently.
“Also, based on the current situation in Libya, which makes the team play their home games in another country make the players to be comfortable anywhere they play.
The Libyan players are not under pressure playing away games. They have mastered the act of seeing every ground they play as their home,” he said.
