By Francis Ajuonuma
Former Nigerian international, Ayo Makinwa has backed the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup at the expense of the Black Stars of Ghana.
The Super Eagles will face off with the Black Stars in the final qualification fixtures on March 25 and 29 in Accra and Abuja respectively with the winner qualifying for the World Cup finals in Qatar.
Makinwa, who spoke in a Supersports interview, said that the two-leg encounters will be very tight, going by past meetings of both teams which have often been very explosive and tension soaked.
According to the former Lazio and Atalanta player Super Eagles edge over their Ghanaian counterparts, who were a huge flop at the recently concluded Africa Cup of Nations, where they failed to win a single match and crashed out in the group stage leading to the sacking of Serbian coach Milovan Rajevac.
“It’s going to be interesting two-leg encounters between both teams going by their past meeting, certainly it will be tight contests.
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“There are a lot of quality young players in the Super Eagles and looking back at their performance in the group stage of the 2021 AFCON in Cameroon I think they will definitely have a good chance over the Black Stars,” he said.
Commenting on Augustine Eguavoen’s appointment as Super Eagles Technical Adviser by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Makinwa said it was a very good decision by the Nigerian football house to give Nigerian coaches the opportunity to handle the senior national team.
He believes that Eguavoen, who is being assisted by another ex-international, Emmanuel Amuneke has the experience to achieve success with the Super Eagles.
“I think it’s a very good decision. The last time Nigeria won the Africa Cup of Nation, we achieved it with our own (the late Stephen Keshi).
“Eguavoen has been a key part of the national team and I want to believe he can be successful with the Super Eagles,” he added.
