Coach Stephen Keshi has ordered his Super Eagles troops to rain down the goals when they confront the Rwandan national team in a 2013 Africa Cup of Nations preliminary round two qualifier on May 29 at the Stade Regional de Kigali.
With Nigeria’s absence at the 2012 edition of Africa’s biggest soccer competition still fresh in the mind of many, Keshi, who worked as a television pundit at the tournament jointly hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, told his troops midweek that only a convincing away victory was good enough for wearied Nigerian soccer fans, who he added must be won over with a good performance in the qualifying campaign for the 2013 edition of CAN.
“Coach Keshi has made it clear to the players that they must beat Rwanda and that they must do it convincingly because he wants to use this game to launch national team consciousness into the mind of Nigerians, who suddenly have become too discouraged to watch the national team in action”, said our camp source.
With an array of strikers scoring goals for their respective European clubs, Keshi, we gathered, is convinced that his troops can rain in the goals against their hosts.
“The coach knows exactly what he is doing as far as make a strong statement in this qualifying campaign is concerned. It is not by happenstance that he invited players like Osaze Odemwingie, Yakubu Aiyegbeni and Ikechukwu Uche to fight for striking positions in the team. These players are all doing well in their respective teams and we hope they will replicate their form for us against Rwanda”, said our Eagles source.
In other games holding next Wednesday, Ethiopia host Republic of Benin, Congo play Uganda, Burundi welcome Zimbabwe, Algeria are on the road to play The Gambia, Kenya await Togo, Cameroon face a trip to play Guinea Bissau, Tchad welcome Malawi, Tanzania play host to Mozambique, record African champions, Egypt travel to play Central Africa Republic, Madagascar entertain Cape Verde while Liberia await the visit of Namibia
The second leg fixtures are scheduled to hold between June 15-17
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