The Super Eagles may not be able to qualify for next year’s FIFA World Cup unless Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) ensure they play their remaining home matches of the qualifiers on a top-grade pitch.
The Eagles are billed to host Rwanda at the restart of the qualifiers in September, then welcome Benin Republic in October for their last game of the series, but apprehension is already spreading over where their next home game will take place.
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This is due to escalating complaints by fans about a ‘haunted’ ambience at Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo, where the team have drawn their last four home games, while Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja is still undergoing rehabilitation and other arena across the country are considered ‘too small’ to host World Cup qualifiers.
As the debate drags on, pitch installation expert, Ebi Egbe has brought up another angle into the scenario, as he says, before looking at a stadium’s size, the playing surface must be taken into consideration.
Egbe opined as much in an exclusive interview with Sports247, during which he pointed out that the biggest reason why the Eagles won the Unity Cup in London and got a 1-1 draw with Russia in Moscow was because they played all the matches on world class pitches.
While also pointing at Senegal’s recent victory away to England at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground, Egbe reasoned that the time has come for Nigeria to also host all of its national team’s home fixtures on top-grade pitches.
Egbe, who is the chief executive officer of Monimichelle Sports Facility Construction Limited, said: “The other day, we saw Senegal beat England. Senegal is showing Africa, ‘Yes, we have potentials to win the World Cup,’ However, without a good playing surface, there’s no way we can get it right.
“Senegal is doing well today because they invested on pitches. Nigeria has more raw talents than Senegal, but we don’t have pitches to support these raw talents. So, let’s put all fingers together to make it better
Egbe went on to shower encomiums on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for putting in place a new eco-system for sports, which he says is already uplifting the sector, but pointed out that the absence of a good pitch might truncate Nigeria’s hope of making it to next year’s Mundial.
Egbe stated, “President Tinubu is doing a great job in the support of sports. So, there’s no excuse for us not to succeed. So, I pray that we will win our last two home matches in the World Cup qualifiers, and that we will qualify.
“But, it’s not going to be easy for us, since we still don’t have a good pitch. We saw the Super Eagles play in Brentford on a hi-breed pitch. They then went to Luzhniki Stadium and again played on a hi-breed pitch. That’s how to support elite football.”
He submitted by pointing out that the high-quality of players in the Super Eagles makes it expedient that they also play their home matches on top-grade pitches, which Egbe believes would guarantee greater results for the team, since it is already loaded with well-exposed stars.
“Nigeria’s national team is made up of elite players, but we don’t have elite pitches to support our style of play … which is an elite style of play. So, we will always have problems when they come home to play.
“So, we just have to put our fingers crossed that we will make it through with this last stretch of the qualifiers. But, I’m pretty sure, if we get to the world stage, Nigeria’s going to do well,” Egbe predicted.
He also expressed dismay with some negative factors that debar his efforts to give Nigeria a standard home ground, including poor maintenance culture and political intrigues, which he said is currently truncating a big project of his in Benue State
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