African Debate: Nigeria Attempt To Put Their World Cup Woes Behind Them As they Tackle Madagascar

The match was earlier scheduled to take place at the Abuja National Stadium, but following the forthcoming Economy of West African States (ECOWAS) Games, which runs from September 2 to September 13 at the same venue, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has therefore moved the match venue to Calabar, where some of the foreign based players have not played before.

Dickson Etuhu told Goal.com that he is looking forward to a new challenge. “I have never played in Calabar, and I am looking forward to a new challenge, a new experience. I am sure it will be a great stadium, great atmosphere. The most important thing is to win, play well and get the points.”

In recent times, Nigerians are yet to see what to cheer about as far as the Super Eagles are concerned, especially after their unimpressive outing in South Africa and the appointment of Samson Siasia as the new coach of the Super Eagles being put on hold after the elections for the executive board of the NFF (Nigeria football federation).

This will be the first competitive match for Nigeria after a disappointing outing at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, where the Eagles failed to reach the knockout stage of the tournament.

However, desperate to bring back smiles on the faces of Nigerians, interim coach Austin Eguavoen told Goal.com that they will collectively put in their best to achieve a good result.

“It has to be an outright victory, nothing short of victory. We will do our best to make Nigerians happy, we will try to score goals, with the likes of  Enearamo, Martins, Odewinge and Kalu Uche who is in form, we will come out with three points.”

The Eagles squad is made up of a blend of home grown players and foreign based stars, which many have questioned with regards to compatibility and blending of the players.

The coach responded to this by saying, “My first message to the foreign based players was clear when we went to Korea, they must find a way to absorb these boys, they have to make the home grown players feel comfortable and guide them during the play. I think they will be comfortable and do what they can do."

 The coach said he expects a full house by today, when the bulk of the country’s European based players led by Chelsea midfielder Mikel Obi are expected to join the players from the domestic league.

The match will be played on Sunday, at UJ Esuene stadium Calabar.