By Babs Oyetoro
The chairman of Air peace airline, Mr. Allen Onyema has promised the Super Eagles N20 million cash reward if they are able to beat Cape Verde in Mindelo today in the second fixture of the World Cup qualifier.
The Super Eagles media officer, Tobi Adepoju gave this hint to the media as the three times African Champions jetted out to Cape Verde yesterday.
The Super Eagles started their campaign with a 2-0 win over Liberia and will hope to back it up with another victory against Cape Verde at the Estádio Municipal Adérito Sena in Mindelo today.
The team landed at Cape Verde yesterday via Airpeace airline, and the Chairman of the airline, Allen Onyema, has promised the squad a cash reward.
Also, the German tactician Gernot Rohr has promised to build a formidable team that will consolidate on the victory recorded in the first match although he noted that the game might not be easy due to the absence of some key players that played on Friday.
The Super Eagles will be without the UK players, including the man of the match on Friday, Kelechi Iheanacho.
Torino striker Ola Aina has also been excused from the squad, leaving the team with just 21 players for the game at Mindelo today.
We need strong wings to soar in Mindelo’
Cape Verde Islands host Nigeria at the Estádio Municipal Adérito Sena, Mindelo, on matchday two of the FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, with the home side poised to snatch the three points and Group C’s top spot at stake.
The Blue Sharks are at full strength and arrive for Tuesday’s clash on the back of an impressive display in the Central African Republic, which helped them secure a 1-1 draw on matchday one.
But claiming the scalp of the Super Eagles, three-time continental kings, won’t come easy.
The Cape Verde Islands, a tiny island nation of just over half a million people, have never qualified for the World Cup.
But a recent surge has seen the Creoles earn respect across the continent for their energetic and inventive displays.
The Blue Sharks did well to qualify for Cameroon 2022, their third AFCON participation in the last eight years, while not forgetting that they beat a full-strength Algeria in a friendly tie months before the North Africans powered to the AFCON title in Egypt.
It would be unwise to underrate a team that has lost none of their last seven competitive fixtures while boasting nine wins and six losses in their previous 17 World Cup qualifiers.
A depleted Super Eagles will need strong wings to soar in Mindelo
Nigeria approach this game missing a handful of first-team regulars who distinguished themselves against Liberia but have departed for their United Kingdom-based clubs.
Head coach Gernot Rohr will be without Friday’s two-goal hero Kelechi Iheanacho, MVP Alex Iwobi, first-choice center-backs Leon Balogun, and William Troost-Ekong, Rangers ace Joe Aribo, Watford star Oghenekaro Etebo, and Leicester City dynamo Wilfred Ndidi.
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It’s a massive drop in quality for the Super Eagles in the absence of these main actors.
Greenhorns Innocent Bonke and Bologna’s Michael Kinglsey may make their international debut. Shehu Abdullahi, predominantly deployed as a full-back, could provide an experienced head in midfield.
But with goalkeeper Maduka Okoye, veteran defender Kenneth Omeruo and Napoli’s Victor Osimhen forming the spine of the new-look team, the Eagles still boast enough quality to defend their illustrious pedigree.
Nigeria has not lost a single World Cup qualifying match under Gernot Rohr, a bar that boardroom three goals and three points gifted to Algeria en route to Russia 2018.
And one has to go back 17 years and 19 games to see a Super Eagles away loss in the WC qualifying series – a bitter 1-0 defeat in Angola in 2004 that denied Nigeria the chance to participate in the 2006 tournament.
