The U-23 Senior National football team of Nigeria will on Saturday 16th April 2011 lock horns with their Liberian counterpart in an All African Games qualifier which will be played at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Complex at 8pm Nigerian time.
The Dream team V were ruthless were ruthless in their 1st round demolition of Equatorial Guinea whom they defeated 5-0 in the 1st leg played at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City Nigeria before completing the job in the reverse played at Malabo winning 4-1 to advance to the 2nd round on a 9-1 goal aggregate with goals coming from Nnamdi Odumadi, Ekigho Ehiosun, Lukman Haruna, Nosa Igiebor and Danny Uchechi.
The encounter with Liberia will see a handful of foreign-based players in a team which is wholly dominated by home-based players who were part of the 1st round triumph against Equatorial Guinea. Super Eagles fringe player Ekigho Ehiosun who scored on his debut for the senior National team the Super Eagles will likely be leading the teams attack. He also scored in both leg of their clash with Equatorial Guinea, hitting a hat trick in the reverse fixture.
The starting line-up will largely be dominated by few foreign-based players like Nnamdi Odumadi, Rabiu Ibrahim and Daniel Uchechi. Goalkeeper Dele Ajiboye will likely be between the sticks while defender Kingsley Udoh and Ibok Edet will create enough defensive covering. The winner of the two-legged tie will square up against the winner of Ghana versus Benin fixture for the Zone 3 ticket.
Liberia team
Not much is known about the Olympic team of Liberia, but they have a strong squad with the ability to create an upset if given the opportunity. The team recently lost one of their star players- Patrick Doeplah in a mysterious circumstance prior to their qualifying game against Ivory Coast.
Prediction
The Dream team V has enough ammunition at their disposal to see off any opposition from the Liberian team. Nigeria has always been a dominate force at this level and the trend will most likely continue. The Olympic Eagles should be able to get all three points at stake in this encounter. The best result the Liberians can get is a draw which may only occur if Coach Austin Eguaveon decides to deploy a more defensive approach to the game.
Both teams have never met at this level of the competition and the encounter promises to be very exciting as both teams would desperately be playing for the maximum three points at stakes.