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00:00 It might just be a friendly but the journey to qualification for the World Cup and preparation
00:06 for the African Cup of Nations in January begins for the Super Eagles with a game against
00:11 the Green Falcons of Saudi Arabia and we are here to preview that game for you.
00:16 My name is David Eshusbu and this is The Nutmeg on Guardian TV.
00:20 And of course, Ifejo joins me right here in the studio again for this conversation.
00:28 Good to have you again and let me put this straight to you.
00:32 It's been dubbed as a friendly by many people.
00:35 I mean it's just a friendly but is it much more than that and what do you expect from
00:39 the game?
00:40 Well, it's much more than a friendly because I would say Besere will be looking to put
00:44 his friendliest cares behind him.
00:45 Like out of 11 games played for that he has been at the helms of the team, he has not
00:51 won any friendly matches but he comes up to deliver when it comes to a proper game.
00:57 He's actually needed the most.
00:58 Exactly because 11 matches at the helms, being the coach of the Super Eagles, 5 matches won,
01:06 6 losses and out of those 6, 5 of them were friendlies.
01:10 So we will be looking to change that record, it's left to be seen but it depends on how
01:14 he takes it and I remember the last friendly we played was against Portugal and it was
01:19 even at Portugal.
01:20 So now we are at Portugal again.
01:22 Well interestingly some players are going to be missing out, yes it's a friendly and
01:27 it will have been an opportunity to continue to try out new systems and new tactics, fared
01:32 by the arrival of new players but we do know that Taiwa Oni is not available.
01:37 Could you also take us through other players and what do you think the impact will be now
01:43 that a player like Taiwa Oni is not available at this point in time?
01:47 Well not really much of an impact because you have in his position you have Victor Punefis,
01:53 also there are a lot of people who were actually called up to play that kind of position but
01:59 you also have people like Jamilu Collins out and he was replaced by Chidu Diawazem, Tyrone
02:05 Ibuie coming in for Olai who also picked up an injury, he didn't play for North Africa
02:09 during the weekend and you can just see that these players have replacements and this is
02:15 a friendly game where he still needs to, he hasn't got a starting level yet as you said.
02:19 That's funny.
02:20 It's a real problem.
02:21 And he's coming up against and hold for in Saudi Arabia, I mean he's worked for them
02:27 before.
02:28 Yeah in 2010 he was the coach of Saudi Arabia, he coached them for three years 2009 to 2011
02:35 that span and we played them in 2010 but it was a new drawdown.
02:39 And there's a revolution going on in Saudi Arabian football especially in their league
02:44 but also at the World Cup they stunned a lot of people, I mean when they defeated Argentina
02:49 and they are looking to, the whole idea behind the growth of the league is to develop the
02:53 national team, of course there's no secret about that.
02:56 But in the last six games they have lost six times, how do the Super Eagles approach the
03:02 game?
03:03 Do you think it's going to be a stroll in the park?
03:05 It's going to be quite harder than the match with Southampton and Princes because these
03:11 are, they have some really professional players.
03:14 And no disrespect to Southampton.
03:16 No disrespect to Southampton but they have some professional players who are playing
03:20 in some top clubs.
03:22 Quickly my prediction for the game, probably be three nil.
03:26 You expect a three nil?
03:28 A three nil win.
03:29 And just before I let you go, how important is it, I mean there are bigger games coming
03:34 up in November in the international window against Zimbabwe and Lesotho and there's also
03:38 another game against Mozambique coming on Monday as well.
03:42 But then also the African Cup of Nations is knocking on the door.
03:46 How important is it that for Pesero he doesn't know his squad, he has to build team chemistry
03:52 and all of that right now?
03:54 Well one thing that we need to know is that he needs to build chemistry, he needs to build
03:57 momentum and what better to build momentum than playing in your national, in your home
04:02 country.
04:03 Yeah, Portugal, Mao specifically.
04:05 He's a Portuguese so he will probably look to get these wins right there against Saudi
04:12 Arabia, Mozambique and hope to build on against Lesotho where they face in November.
04:16 Yeah, the really important ones.
04:18 So looking to build momentum, get the players, the right players but let's see if he would
04:25 take it on.
04:26 Anyways, that's our show.
04:27 Thank you very much for watching and of course you can continue to follow our content here
04:32 on Guardian Nigeria by subscribing to this channel and also you could get notifications
04:38 of the latest videos when you tap that bell.
04:41 And mind you also wish the Super Eagles very, very much of luck in their game.
04:47 It's not a big deal on paper but hey, you still need a bit of luck even against Mozambique.
04:52 We'll be back to preview that particular game for now.
04:55 It's goodbye and God bless.
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