By Amaechi Agbo
Former Super Eagles captain, Austin ‘Jay Jay’s Okocha has stated that what the team need at the crucial stage of the 2022 World Cup qualifier is the ticket, adding that it does not matter how they played.
Nigeria will take on Ghana in a two-leg home-and-away play-off in March and with the two teams not living up to their potentials at the just concluded 2022 Africa Cup of Nations AFCON in Cameroon, many believe that the matches would be blockbuster.
Ghana had their worst record in the tournament as they crashed out in the group stage without winning a match. On their part, Nigeria played what was adjudged to be the best football with three wins at the group level but crashed out in the last 16 to a less fancied Tunisia side.
Okocha who was part of the Atlanta 96’ gold medal winning Dream Team said the matches would be tough but stressed that the result is what matters
“Ghana vs Nigeria match is never an easy one. It’s more about the rivalry, it is a pride match and a bragging right one
“For me, what is most important is to get the ticket. It does not matter how, even if we don’t play beautiful football, what’s important is getting the ticket to the World Cup in Qatar. It’s the result that matters
“We have a very good team. We just don’t have to judge Super Eagles with the Tunisian match at the last AFCON in Cameroon. We have to review all the matches they played and take the positives and correct the negatives if there were any,” he started.
He expressed confidence that the players can deliver the job adding that the he felt bad that the team were eliminated from the AFCON in the manner they did against Tunisia.
“For me, the signs are there that we have the team to take us to where we want to be in global football.
“I felt bad that the Eagles exited AFCON the way they did after winning all three games [against Egypt, Sudan and Guinea-Bissau] of the group stage.
“Eagles raised our hopes in expectation of a good run in the tournament, but unfortunately, things did not go the way we expected.
“However, I expect the team to learn from their outing in Cameroon and hopefully use the World Cup playoffs with Ghana to correct those mistakes.”
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