28th October, 2013
Coach Stephen Keshi will lead the home-based players of the Super Eagles against Jordan in a friendly holding in Amman, Jordan 5pm local time.
It is the first time Nigeria will go head-to-head in an international match with a Middle East nation who are currently 70th in the FIFA world ranking. According to Keshi, tonight’s match is to test the readiness of the Nigerian team for the upcoming Africa Nations Championships holding in South Africa in January.
“The game is a good test for the boys as we keep building towards the championship in South Africa for next year. Jordan might not be a powerhouse in world football, we won’t take them lightly. We want to get a result to help the confidence level of our team ahead of the championship next year,” Keshi said.
Some of the players from the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) that made the trip to Amman include Chigozie Agbim, Azubuike Egwuekwe, Sunday Mba, Rabiu Ali, Gambo Mohammed, Solomon Kwambe, Ezekiel Mba and Oghenekaro Etebo.
The Jordanians are using the match to prepare their team for the 2014 FIFA World Cup playoffs against Uruguay in November.
Jordan head coach, Husam Hasan, has however, named five new players in the 25 players called up for the friendly they are Hatem Aqel, Shareef Adnan, Mohammad Shatnawi, Tariq Khattab and Thaer Bawab.
The last time the African champions lost an international game was on 23 June when world champions, Spain defeated them 3-0 at the Confederations Cup in Brazil.
—Bamidele olowosagba