China ‘85 FIFA U-17 World Cup winner Nduka Ugbade has tipped the Super Eagles to book their ticket to the Brazil 2014 World Cup finals with no Nigerian ‘hospitalised’ for high blood pressure like in the past, saying the Africa Cup of Nations triumph will motivate the team.
Nigeria on February 10 beat the Stallions of Burkina Faso 1-0 in the final of the South Africa 2013 to win the trophy for the third time, after they were champions on home soil in 1980 and at the Tunisia ’94 finals.
Speaking to our correspondent on the telephone during the week, Ugbade, a member of the Tunisia ’94 winning squad, said the players would be fired up for the World Cup qualifiers by the South Africa 2013 success.
Nigeria are drawn alongside Malawi, Kenya and Namibia in Group F of the World Cup qualifiers. And the Super Eagles, who are leading the group with four points, are scheduled to host the Harambee Stars of Kenya in Calabar next month.
Ugbade said, “The victory (in South Africa) will motivate the team to qualify for the World Cup and make an impact in the championship.
“The Nations Cup performance has given the players self-belief and confidence, and Nigerians will see this in them during the World Cup qualifiers and at the competition proper.”
The Saudi ’89 U-20 World Cup silver medallist praised the team for proving their doubters wrong in South Africa, saying they deserved the victory.
However, the former Spain-based defender warned the team against getting carried away by their achievement.
“There’s still a lot of work to do,” Ugbade said.
“We shouldn’t rest on our laurels, but rather work harder to achieve more and more success in the future.”
He said the current squad are not up to the standard of the 1994 Eagles, saying “technically and tactically we were better”.
“It’ll take time to build such a stronger squad,” the former Golden Eaglets captain added.
“(Stephen) Keshi is doing a great job and we should all support him.”
Punch Nigeria
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