By Victor Enyinnaya on January 23, 2022

#Say game won’t be tea party

As tension and debate over the round of 16 fixture that paired Nigeria’s Super Eagles and Tunisia’s Carthage Eagles rage amongst fans and pundits across the country, feelers reaching Daily Sports from a cross section of fans from across the country, including Lagos, Delta, Kaduna, Abuja, Benue, Enugu, Abia, Oyo, Akwa Ibom, Plateau, Rivers and Edo states indicate that the fans have high expectations that the Nigerian side would carry the day.

A fan, Olaoluwa Adebiyi, who introduced himself as diehard fan of the defunct Stationary Stores FC, acknowledged that the match would be a crunch tie.

Adebiyi said that the boys in Cameroon have the confidence it deserves to carry on, having been improving on her games during the group stage and correcting errors discovered too.

“I have confidence the Nigerians will carry the day if they are vigilant and play their style of game as it did against the Pharaohs of Egypt. That game was tight but the strategy employed saved the day for Nigeria. Moreover, matches between Nigeria and Tunisia have gone either way; however, in their meet during the last AFCON hosted by Egypt, Super Eagles laughed last and nothing stops that from happening again come Sunday,” Adebiyi insists.

For Benson Edema from Warri, the match in question would be tough for both countries who are old time customers. “Though Tunisia was not impressive during the group games, who knows what will be their lot on Sunday against Nigeria,” he said, and advised Eguavoen to carefully select his best eleven that would give him result. Edema also said that the Eagles should stick to the right match plan that would effectively frustrate the Tunisians and at the same time, counter their Tunisia match plan roundly.

“On paper, it is going to be tug-of-war between them and only the fittest team that planned well would advance. I wish Nigeria well,” he said.

In Kaduna, the mood was not different. The match is on the lips of everyone and pundits were already betting themselves die. Abdul Liman said Nigeria will overcome the Tunisian challenge if the boys adopt the compact match strategy that saw Egypt fall to the Nigerian team.

“One thing is certain and that is it won’t be bread and butter encounter, judging from the pedigree of the teams trying each other for size.  It is also anticipated that there won’t be dull moment and any side that concentrates overall and play to instruction will move to the next round and that side should be the Super Eagles,” Liman added.

From Benue came a piece of advice from David Osin that as the Nigerian team put finishing touches to their plans for the round of 16 showdown against Tunisia’s Carthage Eagles, the coach must not forget to ensure that the team perfect penalty shooting amongst the players.

“Since the game has entered its crunchy stage, every aspect must be perfected in case such comes up so that the team would not be caught napping if penalty shootout would determine the winner,” Osin counseled.

In Enugu it was the optimism of vigilance and focus. Samuel Ibezim believes that the team he watched its three group games, if it put its acts together, would come out tops against Tunisia who are equally a good side on a good day.

“The round of 16 games will not be a tea party and therefore Eagles must brace up decisively. Eguaveon must tell his wards in yet another clearer term the importance of this match. He must instruct them that there is no second chance in this stage of the football summit, therefore outright win would remain the best option and antidote,” Ibezim opined.

The bookmakers agreed that Super Eagles must show the fighting spirit that has been their traditional trade mark whenever the chips are down. They further reminded the boys that the game against Tunisia was one step towards grabbing the $250,000 promise by oil mogul, Chief Femi Otedola, if they win the Cup.

•PHOTO: Super Eagles during a training session

Source Daily Sports

Posted January 23, 2022

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