AFCON Qualifier: We’ll Prepare Super Eagles To Beat Sierra Leone – NFF

Ahead of the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier between Nigeria and Sierra Leone, the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) has boasted that they would adequately prepare the Super Eagles to beat the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone to further push them to the competition billed to take place in Cameroon in 2022.

Recall that the AFCON qualifiers were suspended in March after the outbreak of Coronavirus in the continent, which forced all sporting activities to be on hold.

But the Confederation of African Football, in a revised calendar made available to the media, said the qualifiers for the AFCON would recommence in November with the Super Eagles of Nigeria taking on the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone in a yet-to-be-determined venue in Nigeria.

Speaking exclusively to our correspondent in Nigeria, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, the Secretary-General of the NFF, while harping on the preparations for the restart of the qualifiers said the football house would leave nothing to chance, though with emphasis on observing all the COVID-19 safety protocols.

“We will leave nothing to chance in our next game against Sierra Leone because we will want them to qualify early because there are also World Cup qualifiers starting soon.”

On whether Sierra Leone would not pose threat given that they need the match even more than Nigeria, the experienced administrator said on that day and by the Grace of God, the Super Eagles would end any hope of their visitors making it to the finals in Cameroon.

“We are not going to underrate any team but we have what it takes to end their hope of qualifying for the AFCON.

“I know they would come at us but we have the players very hungry to play at this level and we at the NFF will do our best to motivate them,” he said. 

Sierra Leone is last in Group L of the qualifiers with a point from two games and a loss at the table-topping Nigeria may see them bidding their chances goodbye, though it will be heavily linked to what obtained in the other match between the second-placed Benin Republic on three points and third-placed Lesotho on one point just like Sierra Leone. Two countries will qualify for the AFCON in Cameroon.