Super Eagles players and coaching crew are confident that they would reach the quarterfinals of 2016 African Nations Championship despite the odds of possible Guinea upset.
Sunday Oliseh, on Monday said quitting the tournament in the first round is not an option for his team and that they are optimistic of getting the desired results that would seal a quarterfinals berth.
“We are trying to do our best to get to the next stage despite the challenges we have been facing. I won’t go into details about what we have been facing here, but I can tell you that my boys have been working under a lot of pressure since we got here in Rwanda”, Oliseh said on Monday.
“It’s like a motor working without a petrol tank. For that reason, this is another obstacle we have to surmount, but that notwithstanding the boys are human beings and let’s just hope we don’t break,” he stressed.
The former Super Eagles skipper also disclosed that the coaching crew are hopeful of getting all the 23 players fit for the crucial game against the Syli Nationale of Guinea today.
Although, the medical team has been sweating over the fitness of midfielder Usman Mohammed and tournament’s top scorer Chisom Chikatara ahead of the crucial encounter, Oliseh said they took cautionary measures to ensure their availability.
“We took Usman out because he had pain in his groin, we kept him in minimum training and we are going to see how it goes before the game on Tuesday.
“Chikatara is almost in the same stage and we will decide how we are going to use them in the game and that is if we are going to use them. If they can’t make it we will have to play without them.”
The match is scheduled for kick-off at 3pm Nigerian time at the Rubavu stadium at the same time Niger and Tunisia battles at the Stade de Kigali.
By Olisemeka Obeche