Former Super Eagles goalkeeper’s trainer, Joe Erico has advised Coach Berti Vogts not to underrate any team in the MTN African Cup of Nations.
Erico said there was no need to underrate any team, but to take them as hard as they come, stressing that it was through that approach that the team could overcome all the challenges before them.
“In a tournament like this, it is the team you underrate that pose the most greatest threat.
“That is why I have to advise Berti Vogts to take the teams as they come.
“Left to me, the battle cry should be ‘the bigger they come, the harder they should fall.’ They need to take their opponents as they come and their points and progress,” he stated.
Erico, who breezed into the country recently from Qatar where he has been working as coach of Aspire Africa, a youth development programme, said the Super Eagles were a great team whether they won gold or bronze.
He said there was no need to look down on the team because they have not won the Nations Cup trophy in the last 14 years. He said for the team to have won bronze in three successions was a measure of consistency and a demonstration of the team’s rating in Africa.
“A team that has won bronze on three consecutive editions is great.
“As far as I am concerned, any team that reach the semi finals of any tournament has done very well.
“Sometimes, I get upset by peoples condemnation of the Eagles for not wining the Nations Cup trophy since 1994, but what such people easily forget is that about 50 nations participate each time. Right now, there are no more minnows in football. Those countries we write off each time are also playing rich football today.
That’s why we must congratulate ourselves each time we take the third position while we plot for the trophy,
“Winning the trophy takes a lot of planning, it takes a lot of perseverance. That is why we must strive to put our acts together if we are desirous of victory,” he advised