Nigeria vs Czech friendly: Eagles must start fast, says Azubuike
Former Captain of Nigeria’s U-23 team, Azubuike Okechukwu has backed the Super Eagles to do well at the 2018 FIFA World Cup but urges the team to get into games faster, starting with the friendly against Czech Republic today.
The three-time African champions have lost recent warm-up matches against Serbia and England following poor starts to the game.
Gernot Rohr’s men will face Czech in their final friendly before departing for Russia and Azubuike wants them to use the match to improve their lackluster start to matches.
‘I think the Eagles need to get into every game very early,’ the highly rated Yeni Malatyaspor midfielder told SportingLife. ‘The boys will need to produce a fast start against Czech like they did in the second half against England.’
The Super Eagles will play their first match at the Mundial against Croatia on June 16 and Azubuike has opined that the game will be very tough.
‘In a tournament, the first games are the most important. So, the Super Eagles game against Croatia will be very tough because it will hand advantage to the winner in the race to make the next round of the competition.
‘I believe in the players and hope they deliver for us at the World Cup which is football’s biggest stage,’ he said.
Azubuike was part of the Dream Team VI squad that won bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics with Mikel Obi as Captain and Samson Siasia manager.