Eagles must beat Iran, says Amodu Shaibu

The former Super Eagles handler has urged Stephen Keshi's men to go for victory when they square up against Carlos Quieroz's men on Monday

Former Nigeria head coach, Amodu Shaibu has said that victory in Monday’s clash with Iran will determine how far the Super Eagles would go at the 2014 Fifa World Cup Brazil.

Super Eagles face Iran at the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba in their first group game and will be hoping to surpass their second round feat achieved at the 1994 and 1998 World Cups.

Amodu who qualified the Super Eagles to the football showpiece twice said that the African champions must work hard for the maximum points in the encounter with Iran stressing that outcome of the game will define Nigeria’s campaign.

“In a way, the match against Iran is very important. Not only is it our first match, which will give a good idea of our readiness to do well in the tournament, it will also present us opportunity to quickly pocket three points and look to add to that in our second match against Bosnia-Herzegovina," Amodu told journalists.

“I have not had opportunity of being very close to the team recently but I know Keshi has been working very hard and he knows the boys very well and knows the combination that will give him victory. I am optimistic,” Amodu said.

He however advised the Super Eagles to make good use of the blistering speed of Ahmed Musa and Victor Moses in making a mince meat of the Asians defence.

“Many teams now know that we are an attacking team, so they lie in wait for us to come at them, and those that have fast–paced midfielders and forwards then come at us hard on the counter, when we lose the ball.

“I think that, sometimes, we should also lie in wait for other teams and then try to win the ball and shock them with fast runs. We have fast –paced forwards like Ahmed Musa and Victor Moses who can make this work,” he concluded.