Ethiopia not a fortress for Antelopes – Disu

Former Flying Eagles coach, Tunde Disu, is confident the Super Eagles will emerge victorious in Addis Ababa when they face the Walia Antelopes of Ethiopia in the 2014 World Cup qualifying playoff on Sunday.

Disu is aware that the hosts have an edge over their visitors with regard to altitude and home fans, but he insists the Antelopes are beatable even in their backyard despite not losing at home since 2011.

The last time both sides met in Addis Ababa in 2011, the game ended 2-2. The Ethiopians, under Belgian Tom Saintfiet, were leading 2-1 until the dying minutes when Joseph Yobo nodded home the equaliser.

Two second half penalty goals from Victor Moses at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations gave Nigeria another win over Ethiopia, and Disu says the Super Eagles can repeat the feat on Sunday.

“I don’t think the altitude will play a big role in the game because the Super Eagles will not be staying long before the game,” Disu said.

“Many professionals have advised our team on how to be cautious against the Ethiopians but I’ll call the attention of the coach to the tactics he adopts on Sunday. It is important we adopt a style that will not make our players run too much.

“At the 2013 AFCON, the Ethiopians were compact as they played short passes in the midfield, this helped them against Zambia. Keshi should consider wing play format, which he has experimented a few times. This will force the Ethiopians to spread and it will give room to our midfielders to operate.”

Disu, who led the Flying Eagles to a 2-1 victory in Addis Ababa back in 1985, warned that the Eagles midfield could be caught napping if they opt to overlap unnecessarily.

He said, “The passes must be accurate. Against Malawi in Calabar, the team missed a number of scoring chances because the coordination between the midfield and the attack was not perfect, and the Malawians nearly equalised the first goal from a counterattack. We should learn from such mistakes.”

Ex-international, Sunday Oliseh, however said on his blog site that the biggest mistake Nigeria would make on Sunday is to think their opponents are the same team they faced in January.

He said, “Nigeria have to forget completely the encounter with Ethiopia at the AFCON in South Africa. Judging their strength based on this is deceptive.