By Sports Editor, Abuja
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has revealed that it hired former Nigerian international, Finidi George as the coach of the Super Eagles to ensure that the Super Eagles get a good result when they clash with fellow West Africans, Ghana and Mali in Marrakech, Morocco this weekend.
The Director of Communications, Ademola Olajire in a statement on Wednesday said Coach George has assured that the principal objective of Nigeria is to earn good results in the upcoming friendly games against arch rivals, Ghana and Mali’s senior teams.
Olajire added that George reiterated that the Super Eagles are presently in high station in African football, after finishing as runners-up at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire, adding that everything must be done to maintain tempo.
“We finished in second place at the Africa Cup of Nations and everyone expects us to maintain that high rating and be even better in a short while. Our objective is to get good results in these two matches and stay positive ahead of the World Cup qualifiers.
“They call it friendly matches but there is really nothing friendly when you play, especially Ghana. I have been involved in matches against Ghana since the 1992 Africa Cup of Nations in Senegal. Matches between our countries are serious duels and always seen as battles by our peoples. The Black Stars did not perform that well at the recent Africa Cup of Nations and they will be keen to banish that memory,” George was quoted as saying.
Finidi George won 62 caps for Nigeria, including featuring at the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cup finals, and won gold, silver and bronze medals from the 1992, 1994, 2000 and 2002 AFCON tournaments. His first AFCON encounter against Ghana was on 23rd January 1992, in a semi-final encounter that the Black Stars won 2-1.
Friday’s match will be the 60th encounter between both countries, since a Jalco Cup match on 20th October 1951 ended 5-0 in favour of Nigeria. 20 of the previous 59 clashes have ended in draws, including their last two encounters (2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches) in March 2022.
