As the Super Eagles departed the shores of the country over the weekend for South Africa to keep a date with their senior national team, Bafana Bafana for the Mandela challenge on Wednesday, one player who would not want to see the Eagles falter is Nwankwo Kanu.
The former African Footballer of the Year in a chat with Nigerian Pilot Sports stated matter-of-fact that it is about time Nigerian players did more to earn respect.
Kanu, who led Nigeria to win the 1996 Atlanta Olympics gold medal in football, while assessing the Super Eagles chances against the South Africans said the time has come for the home-based Eagles to prove themselves at the Mandela Challenge, adding that it would be to their own interest and glory.
According to him, ‘’it is a match of this magnitude that the home based players proved themselves during Clemense Westerhof era that earned them fame and glory’’.
‘’I wish the team well and hope that they do all their best in order to beat South Africa, it is for their own good and glory and I urge them to do more in order to earn respect. The team is full of talented players who can hold their own when the chips are down. but the players must know that it is not going to be a tea party, therefore they must put up more than 100 per cent performance.
‘’The South Africans have suffered for so long in the hands of the Super Eagles when it comes to football, so they will want to put all their life into the game at least to honour their own, Nelson Mandela’’, Kanu stated.
Meanwhile, the Super Eagles Coach, Stephen Keshi stated before the team’s departure that they would give the match the seriousness it deserves.
‘’We are going to put every seriousness it deserves into the game. As champions of Africa, we cannot afford to lower the standard’’, Keshi said.