13th November, 2013
Ethiopian skipper defender Degu Debebe has urged his teammates to learn from the first leg mistakes made against Nigeria in Addis Ababa when they clash in the return leg of their World Cup playoffs.
Debebe who plies his trade for St.George further warned Nigeria of complacency despite having the upper hand after winning 1-2 in the play off in Addis alluding to the fact that they were prepared to face the Super Eagles.
However Debebe who has been the pillar at defence believes it will be a do or die encounter in Calabar and the last straw in their dreams for the World cup.
“We have been going through our paces in training very well and as usual the mood in camp is buoyant despite the big task we have away in Calabar. Nigeria are the African champions but they will be doing themselves a disfavour if they become complacent and take us for granted as it’s not over yet.”
“We have a huge mountain to climb in Calabar but as footballers we have hope that anything can happen in the 90 minutes as long as we all give 100 percent and avoid any mistakes that will cost us especially considering that Nigeria are very strong and have quick counter attacks. All in all we will give our best and whatever results in Calabar we will accept it but most importantly we are all hoping to upset the Nigerian form book,” Debebe told supersport.com.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Emmanuel Emenike expects his team’s second leg against Ethiopia to be tougher than the first despite having home-ground advantage.
“The game in Calabar will be tougher for us than the one in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. We have to be careful and get ready for another big business in Calabar,” Emenike told FIFA.com.
“Ethiopia are very good and they will be coming here with more tricks. So, we shouldn’t see the first victory as the end of road.”