Former Nigerian international, Edema Fuludu says he is confident Nigeria will get all three points against the Bafana Bafana of South Africa on Saturday November 17 at the FNB stadium in Johannesburg when both teams clash in a crucial penultimate 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
The Tunisia 1994 AFCON winner insists that coach of the team Gernot Rohr has the entire Arsenal in terms of players to prosecute the match and help the country book qualification to the tournament in Cameroon which will be the first since Nigeria won the championship in 2013.
Speaking with footballlive.ng the Delta State deputy Football Association chairman said: “I think it’s a game we can win, from the group table it shows we are on top having defeated Libya home and away, that is a big morale booster for the team, South Africa is looking to play the Super Eagles and everyone wants to beat us. We are going there with a full squad of our Arsenal and I think the coach will want to get an outright win but the most important thing is that we get to qualify ahead of South Africa and I am sure we will triumph in their home.“
Some sections of football lovers in Nigeria have called for the inclusion of more players from the home league into the national team, a trait that has been missing in the national team since technical adviser of the team Gernot Rohr took over. “First and foremost I think we want to qualify for tournaments and win and the coach hinges his faith on the foreign players because he feels they are more equipped and better for him to execute his program but I also have this thought that you can’t just cut away the NPFL players then if you do that, you’re undermining our league.
People will not have the desire to improve in the system to feel that if they get to play in the NPFL, they have a chance of playing for my country. I believe he should think of bringing in the NPFL players and work on them so we can have a situation where players can dream of playing for their fatherland even when they are playing in the domestic league. When Westerholf was there in our time that was what he did, when Keshi came, he did the same so we need to identify good players in the league; it gives the league a bigger name.”
