EAGLES: ARGENTINA DEBATE, A DISTRACTION - OLISEH

Sunday Oliseh
Ex-Nigeria international Sunday Oliseh has made a plea for Nigerians to allow coach Samson Siasia and the Eagles concentrate on working out the best strategy to beat Madagascar rather than heat up the atmosphere with the debate over the slated friendly against Argentina.

The former Juventus midfielder told our correspondent on Tuesday that the cost of losing the September 4 match was too heavy which calls for concentration and planning.

'I believe so much has been said about the last friendly against Argentina and even this one and the message also very clear to the administrators. For me, it is best that we just allow Siasia and his players to concentrate and win this game. We all know that it is a match that must be won if the Eagles must qualify.

'So much negatives pouring out on the forthcoming friendly match against Argentina will not help Nigeria. Instead, we should look at the positives towards the game and help them win. No team wants to be distracted before this kind of match and in my opinion it is best to keep shut and let them win. May be after the good result people can take on that game.'

The proposed friendly match between Nigeria and Argentina has received more condemnation than anything since it was announced by the Nigeria Football Federation. The critics have highlighted mainly the timing as the Eagles are expected to be in Malaysia for the clash barely three days after the match in Antananarivo. The match has also received a lot of flakes as seen as coming too early after Nigeria defeated the South Americans by 4-1 in Abuja on June 1.

The Argentinean coach Sergio Batista who was highly criticised for the loss in Abuja lost his job on Monday.