Amodu says qualification not impossible

Shuaibu Amodu

Super Eagles interim manager Shuaibu Amodu said he believes the defending champions have all it takes to book a place in next year's AFCON.

He is upbeat Nigeria will get the needed result in Congo.

“If Congo can come here and score three goals, nothing stops us going to Congo to score three or more goals,” Amodu said.

“We have done it before. We will do it again.”

Amodu has been drafted to rescue Nigeria in situation like this in the past, so he is not losing sleep.

In April 2001, then NFA brought in Amodu for sacked Dutchman Jo Bonfrere with Nigeria’s 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying ship in troubled waters.

Eagles needed to win the last three matches of the campaign to be sure of a place in Korea/Japan.

Ever confident of his own ability, Amodu led the team to turn back Liberia 2-0 in Port Harcourt, hammer Sudan 4-0 in Omdurman and dismiss Ghana 3-0 in Port Harcourt to qualify for the World Cup.

The present situation is no less daunting, but Amodu is not ruffled.

In November 2009, Amodu faced the same challenge, when the Super Eagles needed to defeat Kenya in Nairobi and hope Tunisia did not win in Mozambique to reach the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa.

The Eagles won the match 3-2, and qualified for the Copa Mundial.

As for the South African challenge, Amodu led the team to beat South Africa home and away in the preliminary race for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

As a result of CAF’s regulation for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, the Super Eagles need to score three goals in Brazzaville on November 15 and not concede more than one to steady their ship for Morocco.

This is because they lost 3-2 to the Congolese in Calabar on September 6, and should both teams finish on equal number of points, CAF will take into consideration the team that scored the most away goals in the fixture involving both teams.

Once Nigeria hit three goals in Pointe Noire and do not concede more than one, all they need do to qualify is defeat South Africa in Uyo on November 19 to qualify for the final tournament.