17th September, 2013
Former Chief Coach of the Flames of Malawi, Tom Saintfiet has warned the Super Eagles of Nigeria not to underrate the Walya Antelopes of Ethiopia, when both teams clash in the playoffs for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
The Eagles will take on Ethiopia in the playoffs for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil after the draws in Cairo, Egypt Monday morning and Saintfiet believes the East Africans would want to create an upset by stunning the reigning African champions.
The first leg of the game will be played between 11-15 October and the return leg will be played between 15-19 November.
Nigeria handed the Belgian tactician and the Flames a 2-0 defeat during the group stage qualifiers at the U J Esuene Stadium, Calabar, but Saintfiet is of the view that the Eagles may find the high altitude in Ethiopia hard to contend with when they go for the first leg of the playoffs.
On paper Nigeria may be a formidable side as Saintfiet puts it, but he was quick to warn that anything can happen when it comes to football.
“The Super Eagles are a good side no doubt about that, but when it comes to football anything can happen, Ethiopia also have some good players and they may want to prove a point by defeating Nigeria,” Saintfiet warned on a sports programme monitored in Lagos State.
Saintfiet, who was on the verge of being the Technical Director, of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF until the NFF rescinded its decision, advised the NFF to guide against taking the Eagles to the venue of the match days before the match as it may scuttle Nigeria’s chances of qualifying for the Mundial.
According to Saintfiet, “what the Eagles must do to qualify is for the team to arrive Addis Ababa on the day of the match and leave immediately because the Eagles may find it hard to acclimatise.”
Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s Head Coach Swenet Bishaw says his team must utilise their first leg home game if they must qualify for the World Cup.
Although Nigeria beat Ethiopia 2-0 en-route to winning the AFCON trophy last February, the Antelopes are a much improved side and showed this by qualifying from the group that also had better seeded South Africa.
“We cannot underrate Nigeria at all, but we shall make sure that we make use of the first leg because I have learnt that winning at home is always very important.
“We are going to work so hard in the remaining weeks since most of our players are local based,” Bishaw told MTNFootball.com.
Both countries have met seven times with Nigeria winning four of these matches.
Ethiopia recorded a famous victory over Nigeria in a 1994 African Cup of Nations qualifier, while the two other matches ended in a stalemate.
While Egypt who battle Ghana, will be looking for their third World Cup appearance, Ethiopia will be hoping to break the jinx for teams in the CECAFA region that have never tasted World Cup atmosphere.
Uganda came close to qualifying for the last phase of the 2014 World Cup, but were beaten 1-0 over a week ago in the neutral Stade de Marrakech Stadium in Morocco. The Teranga Lions face an uphill task against in-form Ivory Coast.
—Adebobola Alawode