Mutiu Adepoju: Finidi and Nigeria could spring big surprise

In an exclusive interview with SportsBoom, The Headmaster as he is fondly called, thanks to his renowned goalscoring prowess with his head during his playing days backed the three-time African champions to come out victorious despite the level of stiff opposition that lie in wait.

Once the curtain had fell on that exhilarating 2023 African Cup of Nations tournament where the Super Eagles fell short at the last hurdle, and then the dust began to settle following the finalized quest for the next man at the helm, attention has swiftly turned to the next big task: can these current crop of Eagles build on from their recent performances and land a world cup ticket? Or would Finidi be needing more than he already has at his disposal?

Mutiu Adepoju who himself was part of the Super Eagles squad at no fewer than three World Cup campaigns when queried with what he thinks about the national team's next games or how they could set up to play, was reluctant to leave out so much to the media.

"Look, I'm not going to sit here and tell you the team will approach these games this way or that way, or even what the manager's plans are. Sincerely, I do not even know of any..", the legendary midfielder said.

"But I can tell that the team will come ready. We saw how they gave a good account of themselves last time out in Ivory Coast. Not many of the faithfuls had backed them to even go as far as reaching the final, but they did just that."

Sitting third on the standings of CAF's Group C after posting two draws against Lesotho and Zimbabwe to start off their preliminary journey, the Super Eagles need to start putting maximum points on board if they will stand a chance of making the global showpiece.

First eternal rivals, South Africa come to town early next month (7th) before they travel to Abidjan three days to tackle Benin in what is expected to be a couple of make-or-break clashes.

"Talking about the route to our world cup qualification, it is a dicey thing [facing South Africa and Benin] but the Super Eagles under the tutelage of George have all it takes to pass the test.

We've been there before, taking in tricky games in a bid to qualify for major tournaments, and we've came out successful. These ones will be no different."