The Super Eagles have arrived in Ghana ahead of their World Cup play-off first leg encounter on Friday. The Nigeria contingent departed from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja aboard a chartered Air Peace aircraft on Thursday morning.
Nigeria take on Ghana in the 20,000 –capacity Cape Coast Sports Stadium from 7.30pm on Friday, March 25, with the reverse leg set for the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Tuesday, March 29, from 6pm.
The winner over two legs will earn one of Africa’s five tickets to the 22nd FIFA World Cup finals, scheduled for November 14 to December 18 this year in Qatar.
President of the Nigeria Football Federation and Member of the FIFA Council, Mr Amaju Melvin Pinnick, on Wednesday disclosed that the football–ruling body would take the two matches between the Super Eagles and the Black Stars of Ghana as “very serious business,” insisting that everything legal and acceptable is being done for Nigeria to achieve victory.
At a meeting with some members of the NFF Executive Committee and Management inside the NFF Secretariat on Wednesday, Pinnick admitted that the World Cup playoff fixture is a ‘war’ and must be approached with utmost commitment, focus and with zero tolerance for tardiness.
He said, “Of course, we are not the ones going into the field. But the arrangements we put in place will, to a large extent, determine the spirit with which the players will enter the pitch. All our arrangements must be flawless and without sloppiness. It is a FIFA World Cup ticket at stake, so we must give it our all.
“Whatever efforts we have been making to ensure seamless movement to and fro, as well as accommodation of our contingent at major matches, must be doubled for the match in Kumasi. Nigerians don’t want to hear any story; they only want to see the World Cup ticket.”