77th ranked Cape Verde Islands head coach Pedro ‘Bubista’ Leitão is convinced that his charges have the tools to trouble former African champions Nigeria when the two sides trade tackles on Tuesday, September 7.
The Blue Sharks will host the Super Eagles inside an empty Municipal Adérito Sena Stadium in Mindelo for their matchday two fixture of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign.
The two teams came away with positive results on matchday one, although the West African giants would have emerged with the bigger smile.
Cape Verde were held to a 1-1 away draw to the Central African Republic while Nigeria shot down Liberia 2-0 courtesy of two Kelechi Iheanacho goals.
Ranked 34th globally, three-time African champions Super Eagles would naturally be the heavy favourites against a side 43 places below them on the FIFA ranking.
But Nigeria will be without seven key UK-based players, including Friday’s heroes Alex Iwobi and Iheanacho, leaving coach Gernot Rohr understandably worried.
His Cape Verdean counterpart is, however, bullish of his men’s chances against their more illustrious opponents with the 51-year-old targeting the maximum points on home soil.
“From the moment we finished the game in the Central African Republic, we started thinking about this game,” Bubista said in quotes obtained from Cape Verdean publication, Expresso das Ilhas.
“Obviously, we want to be as strong as possible to look for the three points.
“As we create opportunities with the Central African Republic, we are confident that we will also be able to create with Nigeria and any other team. We always enter the field with a spirit of victory.”
Nigeria has only failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup once in the last seven editions
The Super Eagles will take a significant step towards securing their place at the next edition in Qatar with a win in Cape Verde.