The former national team helmsman has charged the Super Eagles to rise above mediocrity to be among the teams to beat in Brazil .
Highly respected CAF/FIFA Instructor, Adegboye Onigbinde has stated that a prepared Super Eagles have all it takes to slug it out with their 2014 FIFA World Cup Group F rivals Argentina, Iran and Bosnia Herzegovina and qualify for the next round.
FIFA held the draws for next year’s World Cup on Friday night in Brazil and one of the highlights of the draws was pitching Nigeria’s senior national team against that of the South American giants and twice winners of the World Cup, Argentina, Asian powerhouse Iran and European debutants Bosnia.
Onigbinde who led the Eagles at the Japan/Korea 2002 World Cup finals where they played against Argentina, England and Sweden told Goal that Nigeria should look beyond qualifying for the second round.
The astute soccer instructor added that the Eagles should be targeting lifting the coveted trophy and should not consider themselves as inferior to other countries that would be on parade in Brazil next year.
Onigbinde noted that it would be wrong to make comparisons between the Argentine side that narrowly beat his side about 11 years ago with that of 2013 but warned that only adequate preparation and proper self belief would be among the ingredients that the Eagles need to conquer the world next year.
“There is no short cut to success. I don’t believe in saying that a particular country is stronger or another is weaker. With adequate preparation the Eagles can face any country,” Onigbinde told Goal.
“We should not be talking about qualifying for the second round at this stage, but we should work towards winning the World Cup. We must learn to respect our opponents but the key note is adequate preparation,” he enthused.