I NEVER EXPECTED EAGLES TO PERFORM ANY MIRACLE – ADAMU

Sports Minister, Alhaji Ibrahim Bio, Nigerian High Commissioner to South Africa, Amb Buba Marwa, and his wife, Munirat, in Johannesburg, South Africa on Wednesday

Dr. Amos Adamu has confessed that he was not one of those expecting the Super Eagles to do well in the first ever World Cup on African soil. Adamu said given the quality of players in the Super Eagles, it would be out of place for any body to expect Nigeria to have gone beyond the first round.

'The era when we had stars playing for big clubs in different part of the world is gone. What we have now are average players who are just struggling.

To compound the problem, we had a coach who does not know his players by first name given the fact that he is new. So, I think given the kind of players we have, the Eagles did well.

They were not disgraced. That should be our consolation, coupled with the fact that we qualified for the World Cup in the first place.

FIFA has got hundreds of affiliates , so for Nigeria's flag to have been hoisted in South Africa is something we should be happy over.

It would have been bad, if we didn't make it to South Africa,' he said. It will be noted that Dr Adamu visited the Eagles in Richards Bay before the match against Korea. He charged the nation's soccer governing body, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), to return home and do their best to make the nation's football better.