Lulu thumb up Eagles

Chairman of the Nigeria Football Association, Alhaji Sani Lulu Abdullahi Thursday hailed the performance of the national team, The Super Eagles in the 1-1 draw with Austria in an international friendly Tuesday, saying the commitment shown by the players would be needed for the long haul of 2010 World Cup/Nations Cup qualifying campaign.

“The players demonstrated a high level of commitment that was heartwarming, and I actually told them we would need such level of commitment for the entire race of the 2010 World Cup and CAN qualifying campaign.

The most important month for us in this second round is the month of June, because if we can secure all 12 points from four matches, we would be well ahead of the field.

“I have faith in the players and the technical crew that they will deliver for Nigeria”.

Nigeria, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone are housemates in Group-4 of the second round of qualifying for South Africa 2010, and the Super Eagles start off with a cracker against the World Cup hosts at the National Stadium, Abuja on Sunday.

Poor outing at the African Nations Cup in Ghana angered Nigerians, but the performance against Austria was good and Skipper Nwankwo Kanu said in Abuja on Thursday that the team is dedicated to the assignment at hand. “We’re focused”, he said.

Lulu urged soccerNigerian to come en masse to the Stadium and cheer the Eagles to victory.