My World Cup fears for Eagles—Ojo-Oba

Former Secretary General of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Dr. Bolaji Ojo-Oba, has warned that the continued underrating of the Super Eagles group opponents in the Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup might spell doom for the country in the tournament.

The Director of Elite Sports and Federations in the National Sports Commission (NSC), said he was happy with the Super Eagles loss to USA in last Saturday’s friendly arguing that the outcome of the match would be a blessing as Keshi and  his boys would wake up and correct their mistakes ahead of the tournament.

Ojo-Oba said the Eagles can not afford to under rate their opponents as all the 32 countries  in Brazil qualified for the tournament on merit.

In his words:“My biggest fear is that we have continued to underrate some of the teams in our group which ought not to be . None of  the 32 countries in Brazil can pass for a pushover. So, we cant afford to  underrate any of them.”

On how he feels about the readiness of the Super Eagles for the tournament, Ojo-Oba said: “I will say so far so good. The coach has done a tremendous job to put in place a solid team. The good thing is that the team keeps improving with every match.”

“Although we lost the tie against USA, the encounter will give the technical crew the ample opportunity to correct one or two mistakes ahead of the real battle.”

The CAF match and security official also spoke on the injuries that depleted the team, arguing: “The good thing is that the challenges are not restricted to our team alone. There is nothing happening to the Eagles team that is not happening to the teams of other countries. As for the injuries, we should not forget that football is a contact game.

The good thing is that the injury came when we still have opportunity to substitute the player.
On how far the team can go, Ojo-Oba said: “Even though I cannot stake my neck, I want to however say that the team will do well. Doing well is elastic and I know that it is too early to predict if the team will play in the quarterfinals or semifinals. We will think of how to cross the river when we get to the bridge. Let us take game after game.”