{"id":467215,"date":"2011-07-25T05:53:52","date_gmt":"2011-07-25T05:53:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/07\/25\/nigeriaghana-select-fit-players-for-ghana-friendly-ekpo-tells-siasia\/"},"modified":"2011-07-25T05:53:52","modified_gmt":"2011-07-25T05:53:52","slug":"nigeriaghana-select-fit-players-for-ghana-friendly-ekpo-tells-siasia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/25\/nigeriaghana-select-fit-players-for-ghana-friendly-ekpo-tells-siasia\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria\/Ghana: Select Fit Players for Ghana Friendly, Ekpo Tells Siasia"},"content":{"rendered":"<div readability=\"27.503514377\">\n<hr class=\"thin clear\" \/>\n<hr class=\"thin clear\" \/>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vanguardngr.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/img\/static\/publishers\/minibanners\/vanguard180.jpg\" alt=\"Vanguard (Lagos)\" title=\"Visit Vanguard (Lagos)\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Kate Obodo<\/p>\n<p>22 July 2011<\/p>\n<hr class=\"thin clear\" \/>\n<p>As Super Eagles get set for the International friendly against Ghana&#8217;s Black Stars next month, former Super Eagles midfielder Friday Ekpo has advised Samson Siasia to select players on merit and adopt a better pattern suitable for the game.<\/p>\n<p>The ex-international opined in a chat with Saturday Vanguard Sports, that the best the coach would do to dismantle the Ghanaian team this time around is to set his priority right by choosing only players that are fit and capable.<\/p>\n<p>He said the match may not appear serious but the Eagles should ensure they stop Ghana&#8217;s dominance over Nigeria in recent times.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Good preparation can see us through against Ghana, but Siasia needs to select only on players that are in form if he wants to succeed. Players should not be chosen on sentiment but on merit. Also he should not forget that the Ghanaians would want to finish their plot on us after stopping our Under-23 male team and the Super Falcons from featuring at the 2011 All Africa Games,&#8221; Ekpo said.<\/p>\n<p>He however, urged the coach and the players not to entertain fear against their opponent, even as he believes the team will come out victorious at the end of the match.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m confident we will make it at the end. Though it is not as serious as the September match against Madagascar, it is important we do well as it will motivate our players, he said.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<fieldset>\n<legend align=\"center\"><strong>More News on allAfrica.com<\/strong><\/legend>\n<\/fieldset>\n<p>AllAfrica &#8211; All the Time<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>Read More:<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/stories\/201107250025.html\" title=\"Nigeria\/Ghana: Select Fit Players for Ghana Friendly, Ekpo Tells Siasia\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nigeria\/Ghana: Select Fit Players for Ghana Friendly, Ekpo Tells Siasia<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Kate Obodo 22 July 2011 As Super Eagles get set for the International friendly against Ghana&#8217;s Black Stars next month, former Super Eagles midfielder Friday Ekpo has advised Samson Siasia to select players on merit and adopt a better pattern suitable for the game. The ex-international opined in a chat with Saturday Vanguard Sports, that the best the coach would do to dismantle the Ghanaian team this time around is to set his priority right by choosing only players that are fit and capable. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-467215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nigeria\/Ghana: Select Fit Players for Ghana Friendly, Ekpo Tells Siasia - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/25\/nigeriaghana-select-fit-players-for-ghana-friendly-ekpo-tells-siasia\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Nigeria\/Ghana: Select Fit Players for Ghana Friendly, Ekpo Tells Siasia - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Kate Obodo 22 July 2011 As Super Eagles get set for the International friendly against Ghana&#039;s Black Stars next month, former Super Eagles midfielder Friday Ekpo has advised Samson Siasia to select players on merit and adopt a better pattern suitable for the game. The ex-international opined in a chat with Saturday Vanguard Sports, that the best the coach would do to dismantle the Ghanaian team this time around is to set his priority right by choosing only players that are fit and capable.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/img\/static\/publishers\/minibanners\/vanguard180.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/25\/nigeriaghana-select-fit-players-for-ghana-friendly-ekpo-tells-siasia\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/25\/nigeriaghana-select-fit-players-for-ghana-friendly-ekpo-tells-siasia\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Nigeria\/Ghana: Select Fit Players for Ghana Friendly, Ekpo Tells Siasia\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-25T05:53:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/25\/nigeriaghana-select-fit-players-for-ghana-friendly-ekpo-tells-siasia\/\"},\"wordCount\":277,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/25\/nigeriaghana-select-fit-players-for-ghana-friendly-ekpo-tells-siasia\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/img\/static\/publishers\/minibanners\/vanguard180.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/25\/nigeriaghana-select-fit-players-for-ghana-friendly-ekpo-tells-siasia\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/25\/nigeriaghana-select-fit-players-for-ghana-friendly-ekpo-tells-siasia\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/25\/nigeriaghana-select-fit-players-for-ghana-friendly-ekpo-tells-siasia\/\",\"name\":\"Nigeria\/Ghana: Select Fit Players for Ghana Friendly, Ekpo Tells Siasia - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/25\/nigeriaghana-select-fit-players-for-ghana-friendly-ekpo-tells-siasia\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/25\/nigeriaghana-select-fit-players-for-ghana-friendly-ekpo-tells-siasia\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/img\/static\/publishers\/minibanners\/vanguard180.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-25T05:53:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/25\/nigeriaghana-select-fit-players-for-ghana-friendly-ekpo-tells-siasia\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/25\/nigeriaghana-select-fit-players-for-ghana-friendly-ekpo-tells-siasia\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/img\/static\/publishers\/minibanners\/vanguard180.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/img\/static\/publishers\/minibanners\/vanguard180.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nigeria\/Ghana: Select Fit Players for Ghana Friendly, Ekpo Tells Siasia - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/25\/nigeriaghana-select-fit-players-for-ghana-friendly-ekpo-tells-siasia\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Nigeria\/Ghana: Select Fit Players for Ghana Friendly, Ekpo Tells Siasia - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Kate Obodo 22 July 2011 As Super Eagles get set for the International friendly against Ghana's Black Stars next month, former Super Eagles midfielder Friday Ekpo has advised Samson Siasia to select players on merit and adopt a better pattern suitable for the game. 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