Jay-Jay Okocha has explained why Nigeria will not have it easy when they face Ghana in next month’s 2022 Fifa World Cup qualification play-off.
The Super Eagles are aiming to qualify for the global football showpiece for the seventh time, albeit, they must negotiate their way past their eternal rivals, Black Stars.
Augustine Eguavoen’s men travel to the Cape Coast Stadium for the first leg before hosting the reverse fixture at the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja on March 27.
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The former Bolton Wanderers midfielder, 48 – who managed 73 international appearances for the three-time African champions with 14 goals to his credit – hinted that the African classic would be tough.
“Ghana versus Nigeria match is never an easy one. It is more about the rivalry, it is a pride match and a bragging right one,” Okocha was quoted on Thisdaylive website.
“For me, what is most important is to get the ticket. It doesn’t matter how, even if we don’t play beautiful football.
“What is important is getting the ticket to the World Cup in Qatar. It is the result that matters.”
The Super Eagles featured at Russia 2018, where they failed to negotiate their way past Argentina, Iceland and Croatia in the group stage.
At the just-concluded Africa Cup of Nations, Eguavoen’s side crashed out of the last 16 following a 1-0 defeat against Tunisia.
Even after their unsatisfactory outing in Cameroon, Okocha highlighted the positives from the biennial African football showpiece.
“Eagles raised our hopes in expectations of a good run in the tournament but unfortunately things didn’t go the way we expected,” he continued.
“However, I expect the team to learn from their outing in Cameroon and hopefully use the World Cup play-offs with Ghana to correct those mistakes.
“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 positive and correct the negatives if there were any.
“The signs are there that we have the team to take us to where we want to be in global football.”
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