| 'I
dread Kenya'
…NFF’s Technical Committee member, Garba Lawal
says Nigeria’s 2010 World Cup fate still hangs on Harambee
Stars’ match in Harare
By GBOLAHAN
DADA
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
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•
Lawal
Photo: Sun News Publishing
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The fear of Kenya is the beginning of wisdom for former Super
Eagles’ star, Garba Lawal, as Nigeria intensify her
effort to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF)’s Technical Committee
member is afraid that Kenya can stop Nigeria’s dream
of qualifying for the mundial in their last match in the series.
"I’m afraid people have been talking about Tunisia
as our greatest hurdle, but they never know that Kenya can
play the spoiler against Nigeria.
"Forget about the fact that Nigeria beat them 3–0
in Abuja. The team I saw in Abuja can rise up to the occasion
in Harare. They can prove stubborn.
"Don’t be too sure about Nigeria’s chances
because we need to prepare for all the remaining matches in
our group. It is not going to be easy against Kenya in their
home," Lawal said.
The Atlanta Olympic Games gold medallist said Nigeria must
prepare well to win their remaining matches. He said a draw
against Tunisia at Rades has not raised any hope for Nigeria,
instead, it’s adding more pressure on the team.
"This is the time we need to go back to the drawing board
and look for how to beat Kenya in our last match. As you can
see, the victory against Mozambique has given them more confidence
to forge ahead in the qualifiers even though, they are still
behind the front-runners in the group.
"We are still hopeful, but we need to be realistic in
our calculations. We need to plan well for us to win well.
And for me, our ticket to South Africa is in Kenya,"
he declared.
Eagles recently forced Tunisia to a goalless draw in Rades,
but they are still second on the table and the Nigerian team
are banking on home victory to upstage the North Africans.
Lawal said it depends on how the players would tackle the
match on September 6 in Abuja. He said the team still have
every opportunity to pick the only ticket in the group, but
added that like Nigeria, other teams were also not resting
on their oars to make it through to the South Africa 2010
mundial.
"Tunisian coach was quoted to have said that Nigeria
would not beat his team in Abuja. So, you can see that he
is hoping on something when his team meet the Super Eagles
in the return leg. Having played Eagles once, He now knows
how to take up the challenges.
He knows that a defeat in Abuja will automatically send them
out of the World Cup chase," he said.
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