Al-Nassr of Saudi Arabia striker, Ahmed Musa has promised that he and his colleagues in the Super Eagles will not underrate Bafana Bafana of South Africa in Saturday’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
Speaking on arrival at Johannesburg Airport, ahead of the match billed for FNB Stadium at 2pm Nigeria time, footballlive.ng can report that Musa said the Eagles are determined to win the reverse fixture of the tie, having lost the first leg 2-0 in Uyo.
The former Kano Pillars, VV Venlo of Holland, CSKA Moscow of Russia and Leicester City of England star added that the encounter would not be an easy one, but stressed that the Eagles are ready to fly high.
Nigeria has not beaten South Africa in the last four encounters between both nations, though it was in The Rainbow Nation that the Eagles won their third and last Africa Cup of Nations title in February 2013.
A 2015 AFCON qualifier between them in Cape Town in September 2014 ended scoreless, before Bafana Bafana got a 2-2 draw in Uyo two months later to deny the Eagles a place at the finals in Equatorial Guinea.
Both teams tied 1-1 in a friendly in Nelspruit in March 2015 before SA shocked the Eagles in Uyo 2-0 on Matchday 1 of the current qualifiers.
Ahead of the reverse fixture, Nigeria flew into Johannesburg in the early hours of Friday with a commitment to picking three points in Saturday’s Group E top-of-the-table clash.
The chartered MAX Air plane that flew the Nigeria delegation, led by NFF 1st Vice President, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi, landed at Oliver R. Tambo International Airport around 3.30am South Africa time.
Board were 23 players, team officials led by Technical Adviser Gernot Rohr, members of the NFF Executive Committee, some members of NFF Management and NFF Staff and a number of media representatives.
The delegation was met on arrival by NFF president, Amaju Pinnick, who traveled 24 hours earlier for a meeting with a prospective commercial partner, as well as top officials of Nigeria’s High Commission in Pretoria and the consulate in Johannesburg.
Musa, who is the last Nigerian player to score against South Africa at senior level, during the draw in Nelspruit, when he was also acting captain, said the Eagles are not thinking of a point from the encounter.
He added: “Our determination is to win and pick our ticket to the AFCON ahead of the final matchday next year. South Africa came to Nigeria to beat us and we are here to return the compliment.
“We will not be playing for a draw. We won in Seychelles and against Libya in Tunisia and we are here to win as well.
“They are a strong team and we will not under rate them, but we are here for the three points.”
