The president of the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF), Alhaji Aminu Maigari, has called on the Super Eagles team to beat Mexico in today international friendly game at the Reliant Stadium ,in Houston, Texas.
Maigari, said yesterday at the 63rd FIFA Congress in Port-Louis, Mauritius, said: “It is a friendly match, but the Super Eagles have to go there and play like the African champions that they are. I am happy to hear the Head Coach Stephen Keshi say they take the match serious.
“Both teams are high up there in world reckoning and it is important that we live up to the billing as the champions of Africa. The fact that we are looking more to the World Cup qualifiers and the Confederations Cup does not mean we would put up a poor show at any match.
“I am charging the boys to go all out and do the country proud. A good result against the Mexicans will help the team psychologically when confronting the Kenyans and the Namibians and the big teams in Brazil.”
The high-profile friendly falls on different days on either side of the Atlantic, with the 8pm kick-off in Houston on Friday falling in the early hours of Saturday in Nigeria – Texas being six hours behind the West African nation.
It is the fifth clash at senior level between the two nations, with the two most recent memorable meetings being a friendly in Juarez in October 2007 that ended 2-2 and a 1-1 draw at the Intercontinental Tournament for the King Fahd Cup (today’s FIFA Confederations Cup) in Riyald, Saudi Arabia in January 1995 that the Mexicans eventually edged on penalties to take third place.
The Nigeria Football Federation has made it clear their priority is for the two FIFA World Cup qualifying matches in Kenya and Namibia, followed by the FIFA Confederations Cup, but the NFF President insists the African champions cannot afford to have a bad day in the office in America.
The 63rd FIFA Congress opened on Thursday at the Swami Vivekananda International Convention Centre in Port-Louis, Mauritius to round off on Friday.
