Super Eagles Target Victory against Liberia to Boost Qatar Chances

2022 WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS

Super Eagles of Nigeria would be looking to extend their lead at the top of Group C and boost their chances of progressing into the final qualifying round of the World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifying match against the Lone Star of Liberia today at the Grand Stade de Tanger, Morocco.

The hosts, who are rooted to the bottom of the group, will be looking to upset the visitors and pick up just their second win of the qualifiers.

After booking their place in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, Nigeria got their quest for a seventh World Cup appearance underway on a winning note as they saw off Liberia in the reverse fixture before making it two wins from two four days later against Cape Verde.

This fine run however took a slight halt in their subsequent outing, when they were stunned to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Central African Republic, but Gernot Rohr’s men got their qualifier campaign back on track last time out as they cruised to a 2-0 win over Les Fauves in the second of their two successive meetings thanks to first-half strikes from Leon Balogun and Victor Osimhen.

With nine points from four games, Nigeria currently sits top of the pile in Group C, two points ahead of second-placed Cape Verde, having scored six goals while letting in two.
Meanwhile, all 24 players invited by Rohr have arrived in Tangier and trained on Thursday ahead of today’s match against the Lone Star of Liberia.

Commitment, focus and absolute dedication oozed from the session at the training pitch of the Grand Stade de Tangier, with goalkeeper John Noble and forward Odion Ighalo, who were the last arrivals, having the side spectacle with Jean-Luc Royer, one of Rohr’s assistants.

Delivery, marksmanship, spiritedness and creativity were the underlying themes as the possibles squared up against the probables ahead of the Day 5 encounter that the Nigeria side sees as a must-win, before flying into Lagos in the early hours of Sunday to prepare for the final group phase clash with the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde.

Captain Ahmed Musa, Victor Osimhen and Kelechi Iheanacho fired from all cylinders to the delight of the technical and administrative staff in moderate weather in Morocco’s principal northern city during Thursday’s training session.
“I am happy to be able to make it here. Good to be back with the group and the spirit is excellent,” Odion Ighalo told thenff.com after Thursday evening’s session.

Rohr added: “It’s a good feeling here and we hope the weather stays nice as it has been since we got here. Everything is calm and the team has been able to concentrate very well.”
There was vibrancy and go-go spirit as the group welcomed back Ighalo, as well as midfielders Wilfred Ndidi and Alex Iwobi, and forward Samuel Chukwueze.

Yesterday, the Super Eagles had a feel of the turf of Grand Stade Tangier during the official training in the evening.
Meanwhile, after missing out on a place in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations by just two points, Liberia were denied a dream start to their World Cup qualifiers as they fell to a 2-0 loss against Nigeria in September’s reverse fixture.
Peter Butlers’s men quickly moved on from that result as they edged out Central African Republic 1-0 three days later.
However, Liberia failed to build on that performance as they crumbled to successive defeats against Cape Verde in their most recent two outings.

This slump in form sees the Lone Stars sit rock-bottom in Group C, and while their chances of making it into the final qualifying round are effectively over, they will fancy their chances of causing an upset on home turf, where they have won four of their last five games and are unbeaten in all but one of their last eight.
Interestingly, Butler has expressed confidence that his players will prove a point and play for pride against the Super Eagles today.

Speaking to the media at a pre match press conference, Butler expressed optimism of his players readiness for the game following their training session.
“I think with the Arrival of Jamek, Mark, and Boison we got players who came in with good attitude and I think the new guys have good attitude.

“I think the important thing for my perspective is you playing for pride you playing for your country and we still playing for points I get lot of respect for the Nigerian national team but we going to be competitive and we have been competitive in every game we played.

According to Butler the goalkeeping department has been a problem for his team with the goals his team conceded in their previous games something he said has been addressed with the coming in of Nathaniel Sherman as goalkeeping coach and the inclusion of Boison who has a bit of experience.

Butlers said though his team has not played at home in the competition, he is proud of his players the way they worked over the time and is of the conviction that the team and players will get better and whoever that will take over from him will benefit from a very good team.

“Noting Playing at home has an effect on us is where you get your points from if Nigeria was playing away from home, they will be struggling too but it is not my problem, my problems are to rebuild this team and play a branded football and put good lads out there with good discipline and we’ve done that and if we had been a little more disciplined and professional going into the depth of games in the last minutes we could be here with five points,” he said.
Team’s Captian Allen Njie said they were unlucky during the first leg against the super Eagles but will keep pushing for the needed result.

“We Came here for victory and I trust my boys and the coaches have done a lot of work on the players and we came here to get a victory for the country,” Allen said.
The Lone Stars have struggled to get going at the defensive end of the pitch and it is expected that Butler will make a few changes and take a defensive approach to the game to repel the rampant Super Eagles attackers.