The Liberia Football Association has continued to maintain secrecy over their team, Lone Star’s arrival date for Saturday’s 2013 African Cup of Nations final qualifying match against the Super Eagles.
The General Secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation, Barrister Musa Amadu, said on Tuesday evening: “I really don’t know what they (Liberia) are up to.
“They have not communicated their arrival date to us.
“However, we are not bothered about that.
“Rather, we’re concerned with preparing our team optimally to achieve victory.
“Whenever the Liberia delegation arrives, we will be ready for them.”
Already, the Super Eagles are in Calabar, Cross River State, putting finishing touches to preparations for Saturday’s cracker, which is delicately poised after both teams ended the first leg 2-2 in Monrovia on September 8.
Last month’s game at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Stadium was the first time Nigeria and Liberia would square up in a Cup of Nations qualifying match.
Both countries had only previously been involved in FIFA World Cup and Olympic Games qualifiers as well as friendly games.
They met once in the African Cup of Nations finals, in 2002, when Julius Aghahowa’s goal separated both teams in a group phase match in Mali.
Liberia needs a high-score draw or a win, neither of which they have ever recorded in Nigeria, in Calabar on Saturday to turn the table and bar the Super Eagles from next year’s African football house party in South Africa.
Meanwhile, palpable excitement enveloped the Super Eagles Metropolitan Hotel camp in Calabar on Tuesday afternoon ahead of the crucial Nations Cup qualifier against Liberia on Saturday as foreign-based players invited arrived in droves ahead of the tie.
And when the team trained at the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar, which will host the encounter, 19 players sweated it out to battle for first team shirts.
The other three players were expected before dinner time on Tuesday on time for Wednesday’s double header training.
The 10 foreign-based players who joined the seven home-based for Tuesday’s evening training were Austin Ejide, Vincent Enyeama, Nosa Igiebor, Ikechukwu Uche, Elderson Echejile, Ahmed Musa, Obiora Nwankwo, Efe Ambrose, Brown Ideye, and the three exciting youngsters, Ogenyi Onazi of Lazio of Italy, Inter Milan’s Joel Obi and Chelsea’s new acquisition, Victor Moses, whose girlfriend recently put to bed a bouncing baby boy in London.