Nigeria still optimistic

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Pretoria-Nigeria's head coach, Lars Lagerback is adamant that the Super Eagles have a good chance to overcome Greece on Thursday to steer their 2010 FIFA World Cup campaign back on track.

Both Nigeria and Greece lost their group B opening matches against Argentina and Korea Republic last Saturday. Nigeria lost 0-1 to Argentina, while Greece was humiliated 2-0 by the Asian team.

Nigeria will depart to Bloemfontein on Wednesday. Kick-off of their Thursday match is 16:00.

The 61 -year- old Swedish coach who led his native country to the 2002 and 2006 World Cup finals said he does not see the Nigerians crashing out of the tournament early.

"I believe we've got a good chance to beat Greece and then look ahead to the match against Korea Republic, but we've got the Greeks in front of us first so, we can't be talking about the Koreans now," he said.

Despite their loss to Argentina, Lagerback said his team did what he wanted them to do against their first opponents although they could have done much better.

"Really, I cannot say much now about possible changes in the starting line -up against Greece because we still have the official training session to come on Wednesday in Bloemfontein.

"I am confident that we can get the result that we need and then approach the last match with more hope. I think the coach of Korea Republic is right to say that the match against them will be very crucial," he said.