Lions will devour Eagles –Benin coach
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Lions will devour Eagles –Benin coach
Stories Adekunle Salami, Monastir (The Punch newspaper)
Coach Cecil Jones Atuquayefio of Benin Republic has said that the Super Eagles are not good enough to beat the Lions of Cameroun in the quarter final of the Nations Cup holding on Sunday.
Atuquayefio told Saturday Punch that the Nigerian team was too weak to confront the roaring Lions.
He expressed great disappointment in the standard exhibited by the Eagles on Wednesday in Sfax and argued that the team would disgrace Nigerians if they played the same way against Cameroun.
“Nigeria lack the zeal to play Cameroun at this stage of the competition and a team that would stop the Lions must be ready to fight from the beginning to the end of the game.
“The Eagles are not aggressive and that is one factor they need to compete well with Cameroun before we talk about winning.
“Cameroun have everything going for them as the defending champions and one needs the extra push to stop them,” he said
The coach said it was not too late for Nigeria to make amends before the match holding on Sunday in Monastir.
“Nigeria is blessed with so many skillful players and their approach to the match would determine the results.
“Spectators would enjoy the match a great deal but the result matters and it would go the way of the team that works hard for it,” he maintained.
Nigeria could only come second behind Morocco in group D after losing their first match to the Atlas Lions before bouncing back to defeat South Africa and Republic of Benin while Cameroun beat Zimbabwe and drew with Algeria and Egypt to top group C.
Matches between Nigeria and Cameroun have always generated lots of heat among soccer fans and analysts but the Indomitable Lions have often had the upper hand.
Out of the four Nations Cup titles Cameroun have won till date, three have been at the expense of Nigeria, but games between the two sides have nevertheless been close to call.
Cameroun defeated Nigeria 3-1 after the Eagles had scored first in the final in 1984, but the Lions’ 1-0 victory in Morocco in 1984 was controversial with Cameroun’s goal coming through a contentious penalty and Nigeria having a perfect goal disallowed.
The last time the two met in the final in Lagos four years ago, Cameroun won through a penalty shoot-out after Nigeria had come from two goals down to tie the game 2-2 but Cameroun’s victory was tainted with the referee’s disqualification of Victor Ikpeba’s penalty kick. Replays on television showed Ikpeba’s kick clearly crossed the line.
Nigeria and Cameroun have never met at the quarter-final stage of the competition.
Coach Cecil Jones Atuquayefio of Benin Republic has said that the Super Eagles are not good enough to beat the Lions of Cameroun in the quarter final of the Nations Cup holding on Sunday.
Atuquayefio told Saturday Punch that the Nigerian team was too weak to confront the roaring Lions.
He expressed great disappointment in the standard exhibited by the Eagles on Wednesday in Sfax and argued that the team would disgrace Nigerians if they played the same way against Cameroun.
“Nigeria lack the zeal to play Cameroun at this stage of the competition and a team that would stop the Lions must be ready to fight from the beginning to the end of the game.
“The Eagles are not aggressive and that is one factor they need to compete well with Cameroun before we talk about winning.
“Cameroun have everything going for them as the defending champions and one needs the extra push to stop them,” he said
The coach said it was not too late for Nigeria to make amends before the match holding on Sunday in Monastir.
“Nigeria is blessed with so many skillful players and their approach to the match would determine the results.
“Spectators would enjoy the match a great deal but the result matters and it would go the way of the team that works hard for it,” he maintained.
Nigeria could only come second behind Morocco in group D after losing their first match to the Atlas Lions before bouncing back to defeat South Africa and Republic of Benin while Cameroun beat Zimbabwe and drew with Algeria and Egypt to top group C.
Matches between Nigeria and Cameroun have always generated lots of heat among soccer fans and analysts but the Indomitable Lions have often had the upper hand.
Out of the four Nations Cup titles Cameroun have won till date, three have been at the expense of Nigeria, but games between the two sides have nevertheless been close to call.
Cameroun defeated Nigeria 3-1 after the Eagles had scored first in the final in 1984, but the Lions’ 1-0 victory in Morocco in 1984 was controversial with Cameroun’s goal coming through a contentious penalty and Nigeria having a perfect goal disallowed.
The last time the two met in the final in Lagos four years ago, Cameroun won through a penalty shoot-out after Nigeria had come from two goals down to tie the game 2-2 but Cameroun’s victory was tainted with the referee’s disqualification of Victor Ikpeba’s penalty kick. Replays on television showed Ikpeba’s kick clearly crossed the line.
Nigeria and Cameroun have never met at the quarter-final stage of the competition.
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