The roving Editor of The Sun Newspaper, Mr. George Aluo on Tuesday warned the Super Eagles of Nigeria to plan well ahead of the World Cup Qualifiers play-off against lowly-rated Ethiopia.
Aluo, who was speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily’ warned that “if you don’t plan well in peace time, you will bleed very heavily in battle”.
He continued by saying that “the only way we cannot go to the World Cup is if we stop ourselves” noting that “the Ethiopians can go back home with their rag tag team, prepare very well and then we sit back here celebrating that we have gotten a cheap team, then we don’t do our homework well” warning that “we need to plan well. That is just the battle”.
He lauded the luck of the Super Eagles of Nigeria, after been handed a supposedly easy draw for the play-offs of the 2014 FIFA World Cup holding in Brazil.
He said that “I couldn’t have asked for any team other than Ethiopia” adding that “on paper, it is the weakest opposition of all the other 10 countries that are in the play-off”.
He said even a census amongst Nigerians will reveal Ethiopia as the preferred opponents against the other eight countries that qualified for the play-offs.
He was however quick to add that “sometimes you have upsets in football and in every other sport” adding that “I don’t rule out any upset” but was quick to warn that “this upset happens when you don’t do your homework well. So the challenge is to do our homework well”.
He wondered why Nigeria, with all its players, talents and pedigree in football, will be “talking about qualifying for the World Cup” noting that “we should be talking about reaching the semi-final of the World Cup”.
He argued that Nigeria has always been lucky with the god of football since the draws for the World Cup qualification started. In his words “if you look at the draws in the first place before this play-off, our group was the weakest. We had the Kenya, Malawi, Namibia draw” adding that “now we have gone into the play-off God has given us another weak opposition in Ethiopia”.
He called on the handlers of the national football team to “do their homework well” and remove encumbrances that will hinder the team’s qualification to the global soccer fiesta. He also advocated a training session in Kenya, where the altitude is the same as what is obtained in Ethiopia.
He further made a call on the players to resume camp as early as possible while insisting that the team’s performance during the game against Malawi in Calabar was not up to standard due to the inability of the players to train as a unit for a long period of time.
He advised the handlers of the team to settle the bonus row which ensued and is yet to be settled insisting that “if you don’t resolve some of this issues, by the time it rears its ugly head, it will be the things that will jeopardize our chances”.
He berated the Nigeria Football Federation’s claim of suffering from lack of funds despite the plethora of endorsements from corporate organisations.
