Eaglets ‘ll beat Iraq —Etim, Dosu

Dosu Joseph

Ex-internationals Etim Esin and Joseph Dosu believe Nigeria can beat Iraq by a wide goal margin in the last group game of the 2013 FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Friday if don’t underestimate the opponents.

The Golden Eaglets, who lead Group F on four points, must pick up maximum points from the encounter  not only to maintain their leadership  but to also  avoid tough opponents in  the Round of 16.

Nigeria’s 3-3 draw against second-placed Sweden on Tuesday, and Mexico’s 3-1 defeat of whipping boys Iraq ensured qualification for the knockout stages  will go down the wire. After losing their two games, Iraq are out of the race but they could decide  the leadership of the group.

 Etim and Dosu, who  spoke in separate telephone interviews with our correspondent on the telephone on Thursday, backed the Eaglets to hammer the Iraqis to emerge as group winners.

But they warned the   team to approach the encounter like a cup final.

“We’ll beat Iraq, but we mustn’t underrate them,” former Super Eagles midfielder Etim said.

“We struggled against Sweden because we underrated them.  We felt  they were no match for us because we defeated the defending champions Mexico  6-1.

“We must learn from our mistakes in that game  and play Iraq the way we played Mexico.

 “We mustn’t be distracted by the other fixture between Sweden and Mexico. If we are focused and get our acts together,  we’ll beat them very well.”

The former Belgium-based player, who represented Nigeria at the Chile’87 FIFA Under-20 World Cup, urged coach  Manu Garba  to work on his defence.

“Scoring  nine goals  in two games means that our attack is very good,”  the  1988 CAF Champions League silver medallist said.

“I believe Manu, Nduka Ugbade and Emmanuel Amuneke have noted the problems in the our defence and have corrected them.”

Atlanta ’96 Olympic Games gold medallist Dosu, who  faulted Nigeria’s tactics against Sweden,  urged the team to play with great determination.

“Iraq is not a football nation but in the game anything can happen, hence we must give our best in this game,” the ex-Eagles goalkeeper said.

“Iraq have nothing to lose and would want to leave the  tournament with some pride,  and we may regret underrating them.

“Qualifying  for the competition makes them potential champions; it’s just unfortunate that they lost  their two games.

“We must stop long  balls like we did against Sweden. They gave us problems because instead of passing the ball around, we resorted to long kicks. If we play a passing game, we’ll beat them (Iraq) very well.

“We have been chosen as one of the teams to win the tournament but we are not doing the right thing. We must change.”