Don’t celebrate yet, Nwosu tells players

Henry Nwosu

Former Nigeria captain Henry Nwosu says  the Super Eagles should delay their celebration of their  World Cup playoff  2-1 victory over Ethiopia in Addis Ababa on Sunday  until they have sealed their place at Brazil 2014 finals.

The Eagles hosts the Walya Antelopes  in Calabar on November 16  and  Nigeria ’80 Africa Cup of Nations winner Nwosu  believes Nigeria face a stiff challenge from the  North-East Africans.

But the new Gateway coach is tipping the Eagles to run out winners again and play at the World Cup for the fifth time.

“Ethiopia gave us a good fight and they made us sweat for our win,” Nwosu told our correspondent on the telephone after the encounter.

“We’ll surely beat them in Calabar, but we still have a lot of work to do. The second leg will not be easy  for us because the Ethiopians are a very good side. We shouldn’t celebrate yet until we have qualified for the World Cup.

“Now that they are down, they will come to Nigeria to fight with everything to beat us and qualify for the World Cup.

“We have to be very careful in the second leg and not underestimate them.”

He urged Stephen Keshi to work on his midfield and play two  attackers on November 16, saying playing Emmanuel Emenike, scorer of both goals, as a lone striker gave the Walya Antelopes  the opportunity to  to soak the pressure up and wait for their chances.

The former NNB star said, “We should play two strikers and four midfielders in the return match to finish the job. Ethiopia can’t stop  Nigeria  from playing at the World Cup.

“Keshi has done a great job and he should be commended.”