Ethiopia and Nigeria teams both trained at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium an hour apart in readiness for tomorrow's make or break tie for the Nigerian. At the Press Conferences earlier in the day, both sets of managers reasserted in the importance of the match.
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For the Ethiopia coach, he sees this tournament as progress for this generation of players who have not been to any major tournament since 1982. '' Scoring a goal like we did against the defending champions in the first match was progress; getting a point was also along the progressive line ''.
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The Nigerian press conference got heated up when a Nigerian journalists questioned captain Yobo's fitness to which the Fenerbache defender asked the journalist to go and check his records. '' I have been fit. I was fit for this tournament. I just had a minor strain that stopped me from playing the last match. I have been a regular for Europe for my club in Europe and in the Nigerian qualifiers so I really don't have much or anything to defend ''.
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What is far more important for the Nigerian captain is a burning desire to make all his caps for the National team count with the winning of the tournament. '' I have played nearly 90 or 89 matches for Nigeria or whatever number but it will be sad if I retire without winning a tournament ''. The skipper would love to be spoken in the same breathe as the 94 side '' I grew up watching Rashidi Yekini and so desired to have met him before his death but I could not, however, it will be fantastic if we could win this tournament then we have a chance of being spoken in the same breathe as the team that had Yekini ''.
I don't think this present team will beat Ivory coast at the quarters.Our progression is very blurr
Winning AFCON 2013 is a dream that MIGHT come to pass