Nigeria’s Flying Eagles Coach, Samson Siasia is upbeat that his team will not be taken unawares by Venezuela, the South American side judging from their past encounters with teams from that region of the World.
Siasia, who was reacting to predictions of experts, assures africansportsdigest.com that their focus is on winning the game not playing second fiddle to any country in the competition.
“I do respect every team, but not beating a South African team before is not the issue here. We came here to contest for the title at stake not looking at records. We rather break records than worry about past failures. Let Nigeria beat a South American team like it has never happened before,” Siasia enthused.
The Nigerian trainer plans to roll out an attacking side that would be very mobile and hold onto the balls, knowing that Venezuela will be banking on caressing the ball and hanging onto it to deny the physically strong Nigerians scoring opportunities.
Venezuela forward Jose Salomon Rondon is already aware of Nigeria’s physical strength and wants to counter that. He said in an interview: “Nigeria are a physical side with some quick and dynamic players, and they’re one of the strongest teams at this level. We need to be watchful because there’s a lot at stake in each game, especially the first one.”
Siasia is watching the opening game between hosts, Egypt and Tobago on television with his players to help them get over with stage fright and concentrate on the match at hand.
“We really want to be properly prepared for the match, therefore allowing the players an opportunity to see other people’s mistakes would be good motivation for our match on Friday. We’ll definitely be watching the opening game.”