Amuneke admits tough test in Alexandria

Super Eagles Assistant Aoach, Emmanuel Amuneke, has said no quarter would be asked and none would be given when the Super Eagles battle Egypt on Tuesday in a Group G clash in Alexandria.
The Super Eagles were dramatically held to a 1-1 draw last Friday in Kaduna after a last-gasp equalizer by Mohamed Salah.
Amuneke admits that the Borg El Arab cauldron would not be for the faint-hearted for obvious reasons.
“From experience, Egyptians are very passionate about football and I’m not surprised the game will be played in Alexandria in order to guarantee maximum support,” noted Amuneke, who had a glorious career with Egyptian giants, Zamalek, in the 1990’s.
“The game on Tuesday would be different from last Friday’s (in Kaduna) where we unfortunately conceded a late goal. It’s going to be tougher.
“We would have to apply a lot of wisdom and cannot afford some of the mistakes we made in Kaduna. I wouldn’t subscribe to the notion that we were tactically naive against Egypt in Kaduna because that was a match we would have won with some luck.
“In football, you don’t talk about what should have been but we are going to Alexandria with optimism and we would use our strength positively.”
The Super Eagles’ best result away to Egypt in previous encounters was a goalless draw in a 1988 AFCON qualifier, whilst the Egyptians inflicted a 3-1 defeat on the West Africans during the last meeting between the two sides at the group phase of the 2010 AFCON.
Incidentally, the Super Eagles’ last visit to the Mediterranean city of Alexandria was 10-years ago, losing 1-0 to Cote d’Ivoire at the semi-final of the AFCON 2006.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Football Federation has informed that the Super Eagles would not be lacking fans’ support in Alexandria on Tuesday with arrangements in place to ferry the team, government officials as well as fans for the decisive encounter.
Group G has been reduced to three teams following the withdrawal of Chad.
The Pharaohs lead the pack on four points, two richer than Nigeria.
Tanzania has just a point.