|
|
Nigeria: S'Africa 2010 Draw - Kanu Warns On Third Phase
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
This Day (Lagos)
27 November 2007
Posted to the web 27 November 2007
Tunde Sulaiman
Lagos
Although Super Eagles skipper Nwankwo Kanu is delighted with the outcome of the World Cup draw, which put the Eagles in a relatively 'easy' group', he, however, cautioned that the real test is surviving the third round.
Sunday's draw put Nigeria in Group Four along with South Africa, Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone in the second phase of the race to secure tickets for the 2010 World Cup finals taking place in South Africa.
But the Portsmouth striker, who resumed training yesterday, warned that while the Eagles should have no problem progressing from the group, all will come to naught if they fail to do same in the crucial next round.
"The group is not bad," he said after learning about the draw. "I can't see us not qualifying although no team can be underrated we'll only have ourselves to blame if we don't make it to the next round.
"It is that round (third phase) that the real test begins. Because the way I see it there is no way we won't meet tougher opponents since there are only five groups. So even if we're seeded there will still be six or seven quality teams who will not be seeded and could thus be put in our group.
"This means we can't afford to take any chances or underrate any team if we're to avoid our Germany 2006 failure. We must remain focused and committed and by the Grace of God we shall make it."
However, while insisting that the players were ready to give their all to make Nigerians happy by qualifying, the former Arsenal star appealed to the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) to back them up all the way.
"All our efforts might not be enough if the FA is not ready to assist. What I mean by this is that issues of allowances, ticket refunds, camping and relationship with our clubs should all be sorted out properly so that it won't be a distraction during the crucial phase of our qualification campaign. We'll try to do our part they should also do their own," said the Atlanta'96 gold medallist.
Meanwhile, Kanu's national team head coach Berti Vogts is also confident of his wards' progression to the next round.
Reacting to the draw, Vogts said: "It's really a good draw but it's also a good one for South Africa. But there's no problem about that."
Vogts, who said he followed proceedings from the Durban Convention Centre on German television, however, admitted knowing very little about Eagles' other group foes - Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone.
|
"I don't know anything about them, but I know that to qualify we have to keep winning our matches if we want to go to South Africa for the World Cup."
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2007 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
