Eagles Not Carried Away - Amokachi, Coaches Drill For Endurance

As fans in South Africa and beyond continue to tip the Super Eagles for honours at the CHAN tournament which starts this Saturday in Nelson Mandela’s country, the team has said it will not be carried away but will approach each game with utmost seriousness and focus.

Assistant Coach Dan ‘The Bull’ Amokachi, said fans and pundits are entitled to their prediction for the tourney but he knows that there are no small teams here. “The boss, Stephen Keshi does not
believe in quick fix and we don’t either. We must work very hard if we are to take something out of this place and most importantly remain disciplined”, he told the players and officials of the team before their first training session on Wednesday evening in the chilly Cape Town weather.

The players and officials agreed with him and wished their Head Coach will come to South Africa with the Coach of the Year Award and John Mikel Obi, the coveted African Footballer of the Year Award. “That will further boost the confidence of the team we have here”, declared Team Administrator, Dayo Enebi Achor.

At Wednesday’s training the focus was on the team’s physical and mental abilities, as the players were drilled for close to two hours on endurance. Their response was near perfect to the joy of the technical crew. “If you must do well in a tournament of this magnitude, you must be physically, mentally and tactically ready”, Amokachi said after a satisfactory training session. The team continues it buildup on Thursday evening at 8:30pm local time, which is 7:30 Nigerian time in Cape Town.