Nigeria Content Online

The Super Eagles
technical crew led by Lars Lagerback look set to lay greater emphasis
on the team’s attack as they continue their preparations for the World
Cup taking place in South Africa.

Roland Andersson,
an assistant to Lagerback, disclosed this to Swedish newspaper, Dagens
Nyheter. He noted that during the initial training sessions, the squad
worked on the defence and, following the prosecution of last Tuesday’s
international friendly against Saudi Arabia, will now focus more on
attack.

Concerning Tuesday
night’s game against the Saudis, Andersson said the tune-up game was
“important” since it offered the technical crew a chance “to see the
players in action, and what they can do individually.”

Lagerback opted to
play a 4-4-2 system featuring the likes of Danny Shittu, Elderson
Echiejile, Victor Anichebe, Nwankwo Kanu, Joseph Yobo and Austin Ejide
amongst other players in the starting line-up and ended up making six
substitutions before the end of the goalless encounter.

Andersson confirmed
that they decided on starting players who had not played a lot recently
in order “to get them going.” On Sunday, some of them will get to
feature in the international friendly against Colombia. The decision to
improve the team’s attack, according to Lagerback, is to strenghten the
team for the games against Argentina, Greece, and South Korea in the
first round of the World Cup.

Lagerback who said
he was “satisfied” that the Super Eagles did not concede a goal in the
friendly in Wattens, Austria, in a generally lacklustre performance,
said: “This is just a build-up phase, we have only had four training
sessions,” adding that the Super Eagles “still needed a few aces.”

The squad has had some injuries including Chelsea midfielder John
Obi Mikel, and defender Onyekachi of Nice who were both missing from
the tie against the Saudis; but Lagerback, the erstwhile handler of the
Swedish national team, said he was hopeful the two would be fit to play
in the friendly on Sunday against Colombia.