The Liberians who have been promised dollars rain to beat the Super Eagles are working hard to draw up the pay cheque. And as part of their build up programme, the Liberians are to take on Niger Republic on Sunday according to reports.
The Mena of Niger have proposed to stage the friendly at the Stade General Seyni Kountche in Niamey as part of their own build-up to their Africa Nations Cup qualifier return leg against the Guinea after they lost the first game 1-0 in Conakry. Incidentally, Niger and Nigeria played a goalless draw in another friendly in Niamey in August.
The Niger warm-up will be Liberia’s fourth international friendly in less than a month. They beat Malawi and Ghana 1-0 and 2-0 respectively before they lost 1-0 to Equatorial Guinea in Malabo.
The match in Calabar will determine which team qualifies between the Eagles and the Lone Star. The first leg ended 2-2 in Monrovia.
In Abuja the competition for places in the Eagles team has intensified. The arrival of Sharks’ Stanley Okoronkwo and Kalu Orji of Heartland has upped the battle for shirts among the 22 home based players in camp for the duel against the Lone Star on October 13 in Calabar.
The players who replaced Kano Pillars’ Papa Idris and Gabriel Reuben along with the 20 players that arrived in the camp earlier have increased the competition tempo.
“The end of the league season means we have to make sure all the players are super fit, we don’t have that worry with the European based players whom we see play week after week. The response of the players I must say has been wonderful and I commend them for their commitment to qualifying for the Nations Cup,” Eagles coach Stephen Keshi said on Wednesday.
Keshi who also addressed the media in Abuja on Wednesday said the team was motivated enough to be bother by the dollars bait given to the Liberians.
“We sure need money for the players and officials but that is not the motivation now, the need to return to the Nations Cup is the driving force and the players are sad that they missed out the last time and want to prove that they have returned to be among Africa’s best. Money will surely come later,” he said.
Some players based in Europe have pleaded to arrive in the country on Tuesday instead of Monday.
Source : punchng[dot]com
Perpetua Nkwocha