The Super Eagles may face challenges in qualifying for next year’s FIFA World Cup unless the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) ensures that their remaining home matches in the qualifiers are played on a high-quality pitch.
The Eagles are set to host Rwanda in September as the qualifiers resume, followed by a match against Benin Republic in October, which will be their final game of the series. However, concerns are already mounting regarding the venue for these crucial home games.
Fans have expressed growing dissatisfaction with the atmosphere at Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo, where the team has drawn their last four home matches. Meanwhile, the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja is still under renovation, and other venues across the country are deemed too small to accommodate 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
