Home-based Eagles to face their Malian counterparts tonight in ongoing Wafu Nations Cup

NIGERIA'S home-based Super Eagles will take on their Malian counterparts in the ongoing West African Football Union (Wafu) tournament taking place in Ghana at the Cape Verde Stadium tonight.

Head coach Salisu Yusuf, said he expects his team to use their intelligence to beat impressive Mali in today’s opening Group A match. Two days ago, the Eagles beat a determined Sierra Leone side 2-0 in their opening game, which served as a knock-out qualifier under the tournament's unique format.

In their first game, the Malians, also known as Eagles sent Mauritania packing by beating them 3-1 in their playoff match. Coach Yusuf watched Mali beat Mauritania and he said he was impressed with their size, strength and aggression but he believes his team will use their intelligence to go past the Eagles of Bamako.

Coach Yusuf added: “We watched Mali beat Mauritania before our own game against Sierra Leone. They have some tall, big players especially in the defence, they are also well organised and are aggressive.

"However, I expect my team to use their intelligence to outwit them. It won’t be an easy game but we are now a lot more settled after how we rushed in for the game against a very confident Sierra Leone team, who wanted to shock us."

In the opening game, Coach Yusuf was forced to rely on the core of the Chan Eagles because his squad to the Wafu Cup had not trained together before they departed for Ghana. He added that now, that the team has settled and trained together, he will have a wider pool of players to select his team from.

“I have had some time to look at the other players here with us and we will see how they fit in for our subsequent matches. The important thing is that we are preparing for Chan next year in earnest,” Coach Yusuf added.

Friday Ubong and Peter Eneji, who were not part of the Chan qualifiers, were introduced in the second half against Sierra Leone with Eneji from champions Plateau United catching the eye with a well-taken goal and great drive on the left side of the attack. Nigeria left it very late on Monday, scoring in the 84th and 87th minute of the game.