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Samuel, Balogun sure Eagles will beat Pharaohs to Gabon 2017 ticket

By Editor
17 March 2016   |   3:51 am
Super Eagles’ stars, Aaron Samuel and Leon Balogun are sure Nigeria will beat Egypt to the sole ticket available in Group G for the Gabon 2017 African Nations Cup.
Super Eagles’ Striker, Aaron Samuel (left), takes on a Sudanese star during the ill-fated campaign to qualify for the Equatorial Guinea 2015 AFCON. Samuel believes Nigeria will pip Egypt to Group G’s sole Gabon 2017 ticket.

Super Eagles’ Striker, Aaron Samuel (left), takes on a Sudanese star during the ill-fated campaign to qualify for the Equatorial Guinea 2015 AFCON. Samuel believes Nigeria will pip Egypt to Group G’s sole Gabon 2017 ticket.

Super Eagles’ stars, Aaron Samuel and Leon Balogun are sure Nigeria will beat Egypt to the sole ticket available in Group G for the Gabon 2017 African Nations Cup.

Nigeria will host Egypt on March 25 in Kaduna and travel to Alexandria as guests of the Pharaohs on March 29.Samuel, who is sure that that getting the goals to down the Egyptians would not be a problem, wants Super Eagles supporters to troop out en masse to cheer the team to victory Friday next week.

The big striker, who plays for CSKA Moscow FC in Russia’s elite division alongside Captain Ahmed Musa, has been included in the list of 21 overseas–based professionals called by Coach Samson Siasia for the double dose against the Pharaohs.

“Goals will not be a problem when we take to the pitch in Kaduna. We have more and bigger stars that the Egyptians. “There is nothing to fret about. I have heard what the Egyptians are saying, that we would not be able to score in Kaduna. That is mere wishful thinking on their part. They are trying to play a psychological game. The goals will surely flow from our boots into their net,” he told thenff.com.

Samuel, who previously played in China, scored two brilliant goals for the Super Eagles in the 2015 Cup of Nations qualifying race – against Sudan in Abuja and against Congo in Pointe Noir.

“Our objective would be to be precise, to convert the chances that we create. We will win and win well.”
Also sure of Nigeria’s success in the matches, defender Balogun insists the Super Eagles have the ability and capacity to come out tops in the two 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying battles against the Pharaohs in Kaduna and Alexandria.

“We would be targeting to win both matches,” Balogun, who stars for FSV Mainz of Germany, told thenff.com. “If we get the six points, that would ease our path to the Africa Cup finals. Winning will be the principle driving us in both matches.

He said, “Egypt is a big football–playing nation, but Nigeria is also very, very big. There is no complex going into both matches and we have the men to give us victory in Kaduna and away in Egypt.”

Balogun won his first cap for the Eagles in the international friendly against Mexico at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in March 2014, but missed the FIFA World Cup finals in Brazil as a result of injury sustained in that game.

Since then, he has been solid for Nigeria in the defence with a high work rate, churning out impressive performances, most recently against Chad at the start of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in June 2015, and in friendlies against DR Congo and Cameroon in Belgium in October 2015.

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