By Augustine Kalu on November 17, 2016

The Chairman of the Nigeria Football Supporters’ Club, Vincent Okumagba, has commended the Super Eagles’ Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr and the his boys including the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation led by Amaju Pinnick for the World Cup Qualifying victory over visiting Desert Foxes of Algeria last Saturday.

Okumagba made the commendation in an exclusive telephone interview with Daily Sports even as he expressed gratitude to God for granting the team a convincing victory over the Algerians who are the number one football playing nation on the continent according to FIFA rankings.

“First of all we have to thank God for granting us victory on Saturday against the visiting Desert Foxes of Algeria. The team performed well. The boys gave good account of themselves and did the country proud and we are excited,” Okumagba stated.

“I must say personally, I am impressed with the performance of the team in that very crucial game. All in all the boys did well as they gave their all in that encounter.

“I believe that the Gernot Rohr is a lucky coach. This is a coach that has come in and won three consecutive matches of which two are very crucial games,” Okumagba said.

Continuing he said: “For the first time, our destiny is on our hand and we have to take. For the very first time in our football history, we are trying to avoid permutation which is very good unlike before where we used to permutate concerning our qualification.

“Now on the part of the Supporters Club, you know that after the reconciliation meeting brokered by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in Abuja, I promised to mobilize 500 members of the Nigeria Football Supporters Club for the match in Uyo. If you were in Uyo or that you watched it on television, you would have seen that we were drumming, singing and dancing throughout the duration of the match.

“Even when the score line was 2-1, we didn’t stop our support to the team because we believe that if we continue supporting the team probably they may score another goal and thank God, they scored another goal as we predicted.

“We should not because of the two victories that we have recorded in our qualifying campaign think that we have arrived. We still have a long way to go but so far, so good.

“Inasmuch as we have secured the maximum points in our two matches, which have put us on the driver’s seat of our Group, we should guard against complacency,” Okumagba warned.

“I was happy when the Nigeria Football Federation Chairman, Amaju Pinnick declared that we are going to take the game one at a time and I believe that is the way to go. We should concentrate on every game that comes and not thinking about the one ones that are yet to come or have been played.

“I believe that we are at home with the result we have recorded so far and we have to ensure that we don’t lose focus.

“As for me, I think that the coach has done well but a lot still needs to be done. The team are not playing as a team. They are yet to blend and that is why you see them making wrong passes and it shouldn’t be so. That is why I said that a lot still needs to be done. It is not yet Uhuru. The coach needs to work on his boys to make them a team because football is team sport,’" Okumagba explained.

Speaking further, the Supporters’ Club boss said, “I believe that with the crop of players that we have, we will qualify for the Russia 2018 World Cup.

“Again, there is one thing about this team; there is a new spirit in the team now which is very good. The new spirit is that they now work for each other which is very important and I am impressed with that.

“For us as Nigerians, we are happy and as members of the Nigeria Football Supporters Club we are excited. I believe that if we are able to win our home matches and draw our away games, we will qualify for the World Cup. Good enough our next game will also be played at home.

“I must commend the NFF for putting together such a wonderful game in Uyo. I must say that we are impressed with what the achievement of the Super Eagles against the Algerians. It is true that we believed that we were going to win that match but we never expected a convincing victory as we saw in Uyo. So we are glad.

“I want to once again commend the players for their commitment, determination and hard work. I want to specifically commend the captain of the team, John Obi Mikel for his commitment, resilient and hard work. Despite not playing regularly at his club at the moment, he showed good leadership and his performance was wonderful. He even scored a goal to crown his effort which is very fantastic.

“Of course we know that before now the Super Eagles have been finding it difficult to score at the magnificent Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo but now they have started scoring and they scored three goals past the Algerians. They are doing well and I know that they will continue to improve and make progress.

“Finally, I don’t want us to be carried away because of the good results we have had so far,” Okumagba advised

•Photo shows Okumagba.

Source Daily Sports

Posted November 17, 2016

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