Zambians arriving Wednesday, Rohr sees tougher team

Pius Ayinor

The Chipolopolo of Zambia are expected to arrive Abuja on Wednesday (today) after rounding off their training schedule in Ghana, Extrasportsnigeria.com reports. The Zambians are trooping in ahead of Saturday’s World Cup qualifier scheduled for Uyo.

They are billed arrive in Abuja and stay for the day before leaving for Uyo on Thursday.

Even as they fly in, Super Eagles manager Gernot Rohr is confident his team would defeat the Southern Africans. Rohr’s Eagles defeated the Chipolopolo in Ndola 2-1 in their first clash but he expects a better side, a team he believes should be tougher than the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon Nigeria beat 4-0 last month.

In spite of the unpleasant start, Zambia revived their World Cup hopes by beating once dreaded Algeria back-to-back. The two straight wins pushed them up to behind Nigeria with just three points. Eagles have amassed 10 points.

Rohr told reporters in Uyo, “The Zambia game will be difficult. They have a better team than Cameroon perhaps. So we must be ready to give a good fight. They (Zambia) are very young and dangerous.

“They don’t have anything to lose; they will come here with the mind to win this game. We’ve seen in the game against South Africa but I have a team with experience and youth to conquer and I think we are ready for this big game.”

A simple win for Nigeria lands the Eagles in Russia while snuffing out the dreams of the Zambians.