Nigeria Assistant coach, Emmanuel Amuneke has told CAFOnline.com that no quarter would be asked and none would be given when the Super Eagles battle Egypt today in a Group G clash in Alexandria.
The Super Eagles were dramatically held to a 1-1 draw last Friday in Kaduna after a last-gasp equaliser by Mohamed Salah, and Amuneke has admitted that the Borg El Arab cauldron would not be for the faint-hearted for obvious reasons.
“From experience, the Egyptians are very passionate about football and I’m not surprised the game will be played in Alexandria in order to guarantee maximum support,” noted Amuneke who had a glorious career with Egyptian giants, Zamalek in the 90s.
“The game on Tuesday would be different from last Friday’s (in Kaduna) where we unfortunately conceded a late goal. It’s going to be tougher.
“We would have to apply a lot of wisdom and cannot afford some of the mistakes we made in Kaduna. I wouldn’t subscribe to the notion that we were tactically naive against Egypt in Kaduna because that was a match we would have won with luck.
“In football, you don’t talk about what should have been but we are going to Alexandria with optimism and we would use our strength positively,” said the former Barcelona winger.
The Super Eagles’ best result away to Egypt in previous encounters was a goalless draw in a 1988 AFCON qualifier, whilst the Egyptians inflicted a 3-1 defeat on the West Africans during the last meeting between the two sides, at the group phase of the 2010 AFCON.
Incidentally, the Super Eagles’ last visit to the Mediterranean city of Alexandria was 10-years ago, losing 1-0 to Cote d’Ivoire at the semi-final of the AFCON 2006.
