Former Super Eagles midfielder, Edema Fuludu  has cautioned the team to avoid ‘school boy errors’ in the first leg of the Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifier against Black Stars of Ghana at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi on Friday.
The 71-year-old rivalry between the two African football powers will continue with an opening leg in Kumasi on March 25, with the return leg fixed for March 29 in Abuja.
Fuludu, a member of the Super Eagles’ squad that won the Africa Cup of Nations title at Tunisia ’94, told Tidesport source, yesterday, that any mistake in the first leg might be difficult to erase in the second game.
“Playing the first leg in Ghana is good for the Super Eagles in the sense that it will give the technical crew the room to amend some of the tactical mistakes made. But our players must try as much as possible to avoid unpardonable errors. The football rivalry between the Super Eagles and the Black Stars has come a long way, and we mast stop Ghana this year.”
Fuludu also advised the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to stay away from all technical issues in the build up to the match.
“Giving the technical crew its freedom is very key,” he said. “Coach Augustine Eguavoen should be allowed to do his job without any interference from the NFF. Nobody should dictate for him, or impose players on him when it comes to final team selection for the match.”
For majority of Ghanaians, Kumasi is a ‘slaughter ground’ following Black Stars’ 6-1 defeat of Egypt at the venue nine years ago.
With just a week to the crunchy first leg match of the Ghana-Nigeria World Cup play-off, troubled Ghanaians are trying to console themselves, claiming that the alternative home ground for the encounter, the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi, has always been the slaughter ground for the home team.
According to reports from Ghana, some of the locals say the Baba Yara Sports Stadium evokes good memories for the senior national team after recording some great wins at the venue in both Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup qualifiers.
The Black Stars whitewashed Egypt 6-1 at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium on October 15, 2013, making the second leg in Cairo a mere formality. Ghana qualified for the World Cup in 2014, thanks to the win in Kumasi.
“The 6-1 drubbing is not the only famous win by Ghana in Kumasi, a year before the game against Egypt; the Black Stars thrashed Lesotho 7-0 at the same venue. The Black Stars also defeated Ethiopia 5-0 at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium during the qualifiers for AFCON 2019. Kumasi produces goals for the Black Stars, hence a reason for the Super Eagles to panic,” one of the fans said.