Nigeria’s national team, Super Eagles will get into full steam early Tuesday, when the players line out for their first major training ahead of this weekend’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Benin Republic, megasportsarena.com reports.
The game is billed for Porto Novo on Saturday, following which the Eagles will return home to tango Lesotho on Tuesday at Teslim Balogun Stadium, where they will se their preparations in motion on Tuesday morning.
The Eagles, though, will have only two days of training at the Lagos Sate government-owned arena in Surulere, as they are scheduled to leave for Benin Republic on Thursday, two days before the game in Porto Novo.
The home team need victory from Saturday’s game in order to qualify for Cameroon 2022, while just a point would see the Eagle through, as they are currently top of Group L, which has given the coach, Gernot Rohr less to worry about, especially as three home-based players have been forced into his camp by absences of stars from overseas due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Enyimba of Aba duo, John Noble and Anayo Iwuala headed straight to Rohr’s camp from Agege Stadium, Lagos, where they helped The Peoples’ Elephant get a 1-0 away win over banished Sunshine Stars of Akure in a Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) tie on Monday evening.
They were joined later on by Paul Ebere Onuachu, Abdullahi Shehu, Chidozie Awaziem, Adeleke Adekunle, Tyronne Ebuehi, Emil Maduka Okoye and Jamilu Collins, while SSC Napoli of Italy striker, Victor Osimhen left many officials worried late into the night while awaiting his arrival.
Incidentally, the Eagles had to rally from a goal down to beat The Squirrels at Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo on matchday one, hence the acknowledgement by Rohr that his players must be at their very best to beat their West Coast neighbours on Saturday.
Rohr told CAFOnline.com: “We want to finish our qualification on a positive note, and the two matches against Benin and Lesotho are very important.
“We know that Benin is difficult to beat after our last game in Uyo and we need at least a point against them to qualify for next year’s AFCON. Then, we are playing our final game in Lagos.
“We want to win in Lagos because it has been a long time since we last played there, and we want to conclude the qualifiers with a victory as well. These are not going to be easy matches because Lesotho drew with Benin, but we are going to give our best against these opponents.”
