2014 W/Cup: Supporters Set Semi Final Target For S’Eagles

The Nigeria Football Supporters Club has set a semi-final target for the country at this summer’s World Cup.
In a press conference held at their secretariat on Monday, the group revealed that the target is intended to help inspire the team to go far in the competition.
“Let me emphasise that this target is not from the Nigeria Football Federation or for the players,” Rafiu Ladipo, the president-general of the body said.
“This is what we promised ourselves that the Super Eagles will get to the semi-final of the World Cup. And we are going to follow up with prayers and fasting to achieve it.”
Ladipo lamented the fact that Nigeria has failed to advance beyond the first round in their last two showings (2002 and 2010) at the World Cup, having done so twice before then.
He further called on corporate sponsors to come to the aid of the group, as the Supporters Club will need about N800,000,000 to action their programs for the mundial.
Meanwhile, NFF executive committee member Chris Green has said that  Nigeria’s target is to surpass their previous World Cup record.
Nigeria’s best efforts have been second round placings in 1994 and 1998, but Green said that is no longer good enough.
“We don’t want to take anything for granted. Our target in Brazil is to surpass our previous records at the World Cup,” he said.
To do so, Green said the NFF has been doing everything they could to help Stephen Keshi in his preparations.
“We have the team to achieve our objective, and we are committed to giving the coach all the support he needs to help him succeed.
“As a federation, we have worked hard to improve the position and status of Nigerian football from the days when everything that could go wrong always seemed to do so.
“Now, there are no more cases of friendlies on the pages of newspapers, or cancelled friendlies, or picking players from the streets to play matches in obscure places.
“We have also secured a very good, world-class base for the team in Brazil that everyone is happy about, and we are working even harder behind the scenes to make sure this team does well at the World Cup”, he said.

Super Eagles’ Mikel Obi (10) meandering in between two Mexicans in the recent friendly game between Nigeria and Mexico in USA