Kick off World Cup preparations, Amiesimaka advises Nigeria

member of the 1980 African Cup of
Nations winning squad, on Sunday urged Nigeria’s football authorities
to kick off preparations for the 2018 Russia World Cup.
Amiesimaka
The former left winger gave the advice in an interview with the News
Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
He said that the youthfulness of the players played an important role
coupled with their dedication.
These, he said, remained the driving force of the team and should be
sustained during the World Cup.
“I congratulate the team for qualifying for the World Cup, they worked
hard for it and the result is evidence of the effort put into it; they have
the energy and they utilised it well.
“We now need to pay attention to the next line of action, which will
also depend on the teams that will qualify for the tournament; we
know them and we should start studying them.
“We need to study and understand their strength and weaknesses,
that’s important, you need to assess the strength of your opponents
so you can strategise to neutralise them.
“Then you can capitalise on their weaknesses, so I think that’s the
most important thing that should be done,’’ he said
NAN reports that some of the countries that have qualified for the
FIFA 2018 World Cup are Iran, Japan, Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia,
Belgium, England, Germany, Russia and Spain, Costa Rica, Mexico and
Brazil.
The former Enugu Rangers Football Club player further emphasised
that Nigerian teams had always underestimated the need to study
their opponents in international competition.
“What has been happening in the past more often than not is that we
do not bother to look at the teams of our opponents, that’s a big
mistake.
“We shouldn’t wait for the World Cup itself to start before looking at
those issues, you do that over a period of time before the competition
starts.
“That will give you a better idea of what to expect, if you know the
psychology of a team, then you are in a better position to know how
you are going to play against them,’’ he said.
NAN reports that the 2018 Russia World Cup is scheduled to hold
between June 14 and July 15 in Moscow.
Amiesimaka, a former Chairman of Sharks Football Club of Port
Harcourt, also urged the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to organise
regular top-grade friendly matches before the World Cup.
“What they need to do, if it can be arranged, whatever opportunity we
have to put them together for friendly matches should be utilised so
they can play together often.
“With that, we can strategise better and the players themselves will
understand one another better.
“ If we can do that I’m sure we will have an exciting performance at
the World Cup in 2018,’’ he said.
NAN reports that a 73rd minute goal from Alex Iwobi ensured Super
Eagles appearance at the 2018 World Cup. (NAN)