Former Super Eagles captain, Austin Jay-Jay Okocha has warned that any match between Nigeria and Ghana is a difficult one that must be given priority for the country’s flag to be hoisted in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar later this year.
Okocha also said he expects the Super Eagles to learn from their outing during the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, in Cameroon when they face the Black Stars of Ghana in a 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier.
Nigeria will clash with Ghana in the 2022 FIFA World Cup playoffs in March.
But Okocha believes the game is more of a pride and a bragging right one that the Super Eagles cannot afford to lose.
“Ghana vs Nigeria match is never an easy one. It’s more about the rivalry, it is a pride match and a bragging right one,” Okocha was quoted by This Day as saying.
“For me, what is most important is to get the ticket. It does not matter how, even if we don’t play beautiful football, what’s important is getting the ticket to the World Cup in Qatar. It’s the result that matters.
The former Paris Saint-Germain star added, “We have a very good team. We just don’t have to judge Super Eagles with the Tunisian match at the last AFCON in Cameroon. We have to review all the matches they played and take the positives and correct the negatives if there were any.
“For me, the signs are there that we have the team to take us to where we want to be in global football.
“I felt bad that the Eagles exited AFCON the way they did after winning all three games [against Egypt, Sudan and Guinea-Bissau] of the group stage.
“Eagles raised our hopes in expectation of a good run in the tournament, but unfortunately, things did not go the way we expected.
“However, I expect the team to learn from their outing in Cameroon and hopefully use the World Cup playoffs with Ghana to correct those mistakes.”