EAGLES BEWARE! Underrate Namibia and pay for it – Atere

By Ifeanyi Ibeh

The Super Eagles have been advised against underrating their opponents in next Wednesday’s 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier, the Brave Warriors of Namibia, that is, if the Nigerian side still harbours aspirations of playing at next year’s football showpiece in Brazil.


Issuing this warning in an interview with Newswatch from his base in the United States of America was former Nigeria international Fatai Atere who wants Stephen Keshi’s side to approach the game against the southern Africans as if their entire lives, literally speaking, depended on its eventual outcome.

The Super Eagles currently sit atop the Group F standings with eight points, two ahead of second-placed Malawi who could only manage a draw against the Namibians in Blantyre on the same day the reigning African champions grabbed a vital 1-0 away win in Kenya.

With two rounds of matches to go to the end of the second round of World Cup qualifiers in the African continent, a win for the Super Eagles in Windhoek would see the team through to the final round of qualifiers, and with a game to spare, that is, if the Malawians fail to win again at home, this time to Kenya’s Harambee Stars.

So it is with such scenarios in mind that Atere, a member of the historic Golden Eaglets side who won the maiden FIFA U-17 World Cup back in China in 1985 (then known as the FIFA/Kodak U-16 Youth Championship), wants the Super Eagles to take the game to the Namibians and return home victorious at the end of proceedings in Windhoek.

“You can’t afford to underrate any team nowadays,” said Atere. “That would be very foolish and dangerous.

“All they need to do is take the game to them, play them off the park, stick to their game plan and improve on their movement – on-the-ball and off-the-ball.

“They weren’t too mobile against Kenya. I think the pitch was to blame; it was very bad. But if they do all these, and approach the game like there is no tomorrow, they will win in Namibia.”

The Super Eagles, following last Wednesday’s victory on the uneven playing surface of the Moi International Stadium in Kasarani, left for Namibia on Friday morning.

They will thereafter, at the end of next Wednesday’s qualifier in Windhoek, takeoff to Brazil for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup where they will be up against reigning World Cup holders and European champions Spain, Copa America kings Uruguay, as well as minnows Tahiti, the champions of Oceania.

And that, the Confederations Cup, is where the real test lies for Keshi’s side as they will be aiming to go a step higher than the Cameroon’s second-place finish at the 2003 tournament in France.

“The real test will be in Brazil,” continued Atere. “Playing against big teams like Spain and Uruguay won’t be easy but I am backing our team to surprise the world.

“We must win our first game against Tahiti and I won’t be surprised if we get a win over Spain and Uruguay too as we like to play against bigger teams.

“Playing against Spain and Uruguay is not going to be easy but they can contain them. And we can do this by not letting them play; start the pressure from their half; that will throw them off their game plan. But it will take good fitness, as well as mass defence and mass attack.”



He added, while making reference to Nigeria’s recent friendly tie against Mexico in Texas: “If they can play Mexico to a two-all draw, they can play anybody.”

The Super Eagles will open proceedings at the Confederations Cup on June 17 against Tahiti before games against Uruguay and Spain on June 20 and 23 respectively.

The top-two teams at the end of the group stage will thereafter proceed to the semi-finals against the winner and runner-up from Group A comprising of hosts Brazil, Asian champions Japan, North and Central American champions Mexico, and Italy – runners up to Spain at last year’s European Championships.