Reigning African Footballer of The Year, Yaya Toure, who captained the Elephants of Cote D’Ivoire expressed his shock at the football dexterity of the Super Eagles made up of entirely Nigerian league players against his star studded teammates on Sundaynight in Abu Dhabi.
According to Toure, the Ivorian team had believed they were up against a wholly home based Eagles and made this known while speaking with the media as well as the Coach Dan Amockachi.
In his response, Amokachi said that apart from Steve Ukoh, who plays in Switzerland and had his first cap for the Eagles, all the other players are from the Nigerian Premier League.
Toure added: “At a point I had to tell my teammates to slow down the pace of the game and when we scored we could not wait for the final whistle, because the boys were all over us. They must be commended for their confident display.”
All the way from Germany, Eagles defender, Leon Balogun, has also said kudos to the Eagles for a good display against the Ivorians.
“My heart and soul has always been with the team and hopefully I will rejoin the team to recreate those beautiful moments that we had when I first played with them,” Balogun said.
Balogun presently plies his trade with German second division side, SV Darmstadt 98.
Also speaking on the match, the NFF Technical Committee Chairman, Chief Felix Anyansi-Agwu; General Secretary, Musa Amadu; and HOD Technical Department, Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme, commended the grit with which players of the Super Eagles approached the game after staying together for only nine days before the match.