Sports
Super Eagles a team to watch out for at 2018 World Cup – Dalung
The Minister of Youth and Sports, Barrister Solomon Dalung has called out to the rest of the world to watch out for the Super Eagles of Nigeria when the FIFA 2018 World Cup kicks off next month.
Nigeria will be making their sixth appearance at the World Cup in Russia, and Dalung is optimistic that the national team will spring surprises at the competition.
The Minister formed his argument from the fact that the Eagles fought through a difficult group during the qualifiers to clinch one of Africa’s five tickets to the mundial.
In a group with Zambia, Cameroon and Algeria, Nigeria sealed qualification for the World Cup with one game to spare.
Speaking to reporters in Abuja, Dalung said: “Nobody gave Nigeria a chance in the qualifiers. The thinking then was that we would be eliminated after two or three matches, that we were going nowhere but at the end of the day, Nigeria qualified with a match to spare.
Read Also: Utaka confident Eagles can survive ‘tough’ World Cup group
“That feat suggested that Nigeria is a country to watch out for at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. We have even proved that in the three friendly games we played against countries like Poland and Argentina. Of course we won two including Argentina, that is a good moment for us.”
Meanwhile, the Super Eagles will play DR Congo in a farewell friendly game at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt next weekend.
The team is also billed to play England in Wembley on June 2 and then Czech Republic on June 6 in Austria before finally jetting out to represent the nation in the World Cup finals in Russia.
And Dalung believes that by the time the team is done preparing with these games, they will become a team too hot to contain when the showpiece finally kicks off.
Nigeria will begin their World Cup campaign against Croatia on June 16, before facing Iceland and Argentina on matchdays two and three respectively.
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