From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Former Nigerian international, Mutiu Adepoju has stated that the participation of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in the ongoing FIFA Confederations Cup has exposed the team’s strength and weaknesses ahead of the two-legged World Cup qualifier ties against the Super Eagles.
Answering questions from Daily Sun sports on telephone, the former Eagles utility winger urged the Gernot Rohr-tutored team to urgently put the defeat in the hand of the visiting Bafana Bafana of South Africa behind them and concentrate on the game with the Lions.
Headmaster, as he is fondly called, who reacted to the Super Eagles disappointing to the South Africa argued that it is not a setback to the team, but an opportunity for the technical crew to work more on the team.
In his words: “I won’t agree that the defeat by South Africa was a setback and I won’t also agree that there is a problem in the team because losing a match does not mean death sentence. It was rather a bad day for the Eagles.
“This is a team that has been playing very well and has impressed many Nigerians with many of the matches they have won before the game against Bafana Bafana. I want to believe that the loss will be a blessing in disguise which will help the technical crew to identify the problems and work on them.”
Speaking on the August crucial game, he said: “I still stand my ground that there should be no reason to panic ahead of the game against Cameroon. The only thing is for the players to prepare well and equally deploy everything.
“It would be right to think that participating in the FIFA Confederation Cup would give Cameroon psychological edge over the Super Eagles, but it does not follow. In the contrary, the participation exposed them because it afforded us the opportunity to know their strength and weaknesses. We have also known their strong points,” he noted.