Coach of Swaziland, Harris Bulugna

By Taiwo Adelu.

Coach of Swaziland, Harris Bulugna, has identified three players of Nigeria’s Super Eagles as potential threats to his team in Tuesday’s 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying fixture in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Bulugna’s men forced the Eagles to a barren draw in Lobamba last Friday, making the reverse fixture, which will hold at the Adokiye Amiesiamaka Stadium, a must-win match for Nigeria.

Swaziland coach, who boasted that he is in Nigeria to create a historic upset, said the trio of Obafemi Martins, who plies his trade for Seattle Sounders in the American Major League Soccer; Captain Ahmed Musa, who plays as forward for Russian club CSKA Moscow and Watford of England’s Odion Ighalo are players in the Eagles that can unsettled his team in Tuesday’s encounter.

According to Bulugna, both Musa and Ighalo are dangerous players, while Martins can be deadly in front of goal.

Martins came on in the 71st minute for Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel in the game in Lobamba, which ended in a 0-0 draw. Martins earned his 40th career cap for Nigeria with the appearance, his first since March 23, 2013 and his third since playing in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

“Obviously, Nigeria will come out hard on us and the Eagles will want to impress in front of their home fans. But we’ll be patient to play our game. Everybody knows that we are not professionals, but we’ll play good game.

“We’ll also be mindful of the threats pose by Musa and Ighalo who are dangerous players and more importantly, Martins who plays in America, he is a deadly player in front of goal. We always watched him how he scored goals for his MLS club.

“The plan is not to stop these players individually, but we plan to stop the whole team, ” Bulugna said.

He noted that Swaziland are a small underdogs team who are in Nigeria to make great exploits by stopping a highly rated Nigerian team from going to Russia 2018 World Cup.

“There are no more minnows in football again. We’ll go all out to score in this match, unlike what happened in the first leg. We need to score this time around. We’ll be adventurous because we’ve surprise in stock for the Super Eagles, ” he boasted.

According to Bulugna, who fielded mainly players from Swaziland local league for the two-legged second round World Cup qualifiers, the Swazi back home celebrated Friday’s draw with ‘super power’ Nigerian Eagles as if it was a win