• Ambassador tips team for success
SUPER Eagles’ defender, Godfrey Oboabona, is disappointed by the two goals conceded by the team in their 1-2 loss to the USA and blames it on lack of communication.
Jozy Altidore was left unmarked to tap in from close-range for the first, then held off the challenge of Yobo to whip in a second.
“I think it was a lack of communication that led to the two goals,” the defender told KickOffNigeria.com. “Because these are the kind of goals that for the last two years I have not seen us concede those kinds of goals.
“I am not the kind of player that criticizes another player because everybody makes mistakes and nobody is perfect but I think we will have to work and communicate well,” he said.
The loss snapped an eight-game unbeaten streak for the Super Eagles, and Oboabona was naturally disappointed, but says the lessons have to be learnt.
“I’m a bit disappointed but not too disappointed because the major purpose of being here is to identify our weaknesses.
“It is better we lose today than get to the World Cup and lose. I think everybody has to learn from this.
“Individually, we have to fight, we have to work hard. When we lose the ball, we have to come back. We are not putting as much seriousness or commitment as we used to do before.
“But I believe from this game, from the next training, we will have to talk to ourselves so we know what we have to do.”
The team returned to training yesterday n Jacksonville.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States, Prof. Ade Adefuye, who paid a courtesy call on the Eagles on Saturday afternoon, alongside the Consul General of the Nigeria Consulate in Atlanta, Ambassador Geoffrey Tenelaibe and top embassy staffers, has predicted that the Eagles would do geat thinsg at the Mundial.
Addressing the players, Prof. Adefuye, who identified most of the players by their names, said he has been a keen follower of the Nigerian national teams at all levels and it was time for the jinx at the senior level to be broken come Brazil 2014.
“We have won the U17 World Cup more than twice, we have played in the final of the U20 World Cup, why can’t we take that excellence and recreate it at the senior level. I believe that this year will be the year the Super Eagles will shock the world and these are the players who will do it,” he said.
He praised the NFF leadership for providing the enabling environment for the team to thrive, noting that in the past it was difficult to witness the peaceful atmosphere that has pervaded the national team.
“I urge the players to reciprocate this by winning the World Cup or at worst reaching a respectable level.
Ambassador Tenelaibe spoke in a similar vein, urging the Nigerian team to make the country and indeed Africa proud.
In reply, Team Skipper, Joseph Tambarin Yobo, while thanking the envoy , the NFF President and their teams for finding time out of their busy schedule to visit the Eagles, said the team is always motivated when it sees it leaders in political offices backing the team.
“I can assure His Excellency and his team that I and my mates will not disappoint in Brazil because we are ready to give our all and make a statement at the World Cup,” he said.