Former Super Eagles player Garba Lawal has described Nigeria’s international friendly against Brazil next month as ‘an exciting and highly competitive game’.
Lawal played in the first meeting between the sides at senior level, where the Selecao, in 2003, won 3-0 in Abuja.
Prior 2003, the Countries faced off twice at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympic Games, where Brazil won in the group stage, but lost to Nigeria in extra-time in the semi-final.
The defeat still hurts the Brazilians, Lawal reckons, and the former Midfielder believes they won’t underrate the current Eagles.
“I think Brazil are one of the best in the world, they’ve got great players and play great football and they also know we are not a small country,” he told brila.net.
“I believe they are angry at the 96′ Olympic defeat, that’s why they came down here to defeat us 3-0 in 2003.
“Anytime they want to play us they come with a full squad because they don’t want to take chances like they did in the Olympics.”
The Nigeria Olympic Gold-medallist also hailed the Super Eagles players for their display at club level and most recent friendly against Ukraine.
Lawal said, “I like the way we played in the final third, on the break during the counter attack, our strikers have been amazing”
“A lot of our players are playing well week in, week out. It makes the job easier for the coach to pick his players.”
COMMENTS