By Paul Erewuba
The Super Eagles of Nigeria, would in August, tackle the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in a World Cup qualifier billed for Russia in 2018.
Cameroon are second on the table having secured two points from two games while Nigeria have a maximum six points from two games.
The Cameroon Football Federation have told whoever cares to listen that they are already targeting successive wins over Nigeria when the teams meet in the double header encounter.
Indeed, the fear of Cameroon, who are current African champions, was further heightened when Bafana Bafana of South Africa walloped the Super Eagles 0 – 2 in an AFCON group qualification match played in Uyo a fortnight ago.
The Indomitable Lions have gone ahead to represent Africa in the on FIFA Confederations Cup losing their first match to Chile by 2-0 and drew 1-1 against Australia.
Despite the not too impressive runs of the Africans at the championship so far, former Super Eagles winger, Emmanuel Amuneke has warned that the team could prove a hard nut to crack for the Germot Rorh – coached Super Eagles when hostilities for the double header encounter begins.
Amuneke a member of the 1994 Super Eagles Nations Cup winning squad said in an interview with Saturday Sunspots in Lagos last Friday that the Super Eagles would have to step up their game if the Lions must be caged.
He frowned at the decision of the NFF bigwigs to vet Rorh’s team list, stating that it would be more of distractions to both the players and the coach, and could spell doom to the entire qualification.
“Cameroon will not be easy for the Super Eagles to beat. The Cameroon I saw at the last Nations Cup have improved. I’m not saying that they are unbeatable. We just have to keep working and remain very focused.
Our attention should be focused on what we want to achieve. We have to look at the South Africa defeat and see what went wrong. Its okay that we have a group of young players. Football is a seasonal thing. And we have to be abreast of the new happenings in football.
“The Eagles can still win their remaining matches for the Nations Cup. But we have to forget the South Africa defeat and face Cameroon squally because that is where the headache lies now.
Winning Cameroon home and away depends on the players’ attitude and focus,
They have to strategise, put the players in the mood and stop this vetting of players’ list that could rock the boat.
‘The players have a lot of work to do against Cameroon because Nigerians are passionate.”
The former FC Barcelona of Spain player however called on Nigerian football administrators to also take a look at academies and grassroots football development insisting that the future of Nigeria football lies there.
“We dwell too much on the senior national team, while neglecting the age grade football. Right now, nobody is talking of the U17, U20, U23 because we are not competing in these areas. This should not be so. And this is why we recently embarked on Stars and Friends football tournament.
The tournament which had 12 football academy teams drawn from Lagos including the popular Amuneke Football Academy, and one from Ghana attracted the interests of international scouts from Austria.
Robert Paldan, one of the scouts who spoke with Saturday Sunsport said the tournament gave him a first hand experience with Nigerian players and that he was not disappointed with what he saw. “Nigeria is a great country with a very rich football history.
The country also has a lot of talented players plying their trade with some big clubs in Europe and elsewhere. It is indeed great to be here.”
On his part, the former national U-17 team coach, Emmanuel Amuneke, whose academy finished third in the tournament said it was to facilitate the job of the scouts.
It is not all about selling players. An academy provides a step to developing the huge talents that are abound in the country. By that way, we develop the players for the country if they are found good enough. Football development in other countries is growing so fast, and we are not doing much to catch up with the rest of the world.”