Egypt U-20 head coach Mahmoud Gaber has disclosed his team’s readiness ahead of the of the must win game against the the Flying Eagles of Nigeria. Nigeriasoccernet.com reports.

While the host, Egypt played out a goalless against the supposed weakest team Mozambique in Sunday, Nigeria lost to Senegal by 1-0.

The outcomes in the group has thrown group more open keeping the Young Pharaohs on the edge.

Playing against seven time  U-20 Africa Cup of Nations on Wednesday, Egypt boss Mahmoud Gaber believes his team will win the game.

“We started working right after the Mozambique game,” Gaber said on CAF website. “Everyone is ready and we're very motivated to win.”

The Pharaohs were a delight to watch with their neat interchange of passes and marauding fullbacks joining in the attack against Mozambique but Gaber hints at some possible changes.

"It is possible that we will change the way we play against Nigeria. We watched the Nigeria-Senegal match and we prepared well for the match,” said the former Ismaily coach.

"We suffered from a low defensive block against Mozambique, and we will not suffer from this against Nigeria due to the different way of playing."

Dare Ogun

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the fine is one of several sanctions handed out by CAF’s Disciplinary Committee.

An estimated 40,000 fans had taken over the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna, which was designed to hold just 16,000 spectators, as the Super Eagles drew 1-1 with Egypt.

Nigeria were also warned of further sanctions if similar incidents occur.

Egypt were fined the same amount for the “excessive use of lasers’’ in the return leg against Nigeria in Cairo four days later.

DR Congo, Sudan, Comoros, The Gambia and Kenya were also sanctioned.

Kenya were fined 10,000 dollars for “players severely contesting referee decisions, supporters throwing stones and police having to use tear gas to disperse crowd’’.

The incidents happened as they lost 0-1 in Nairobi in a Nations Cup qualifier against Guinea Bissau on March 23.

The committee also issued a warning about the “security measures in CAF matches’’ and that in the case of similar incidents, the team may have to play on neutral territory.

A few days earlier, when Guinea Bissau beat the visiting Kenyans 1-0, ball boys had invaded the pitch.

The Guinea Bissau federation was consequently given a warning letter to respect the rules and reinforce security.

There was also a warning letter for Comoros after a spectator got onto the pitch during their 1-0 win over Botswana in a Nations Cup tie.

A spectator also got onto the pitch as DR Congo beat Angola 2-1 on March 26, and objects were also thrown on the pitch too.

As a result, the Congolese authorities were fined 5,000 dollars.

CAF has however warned that the amount would double if the team is found guilty of similar offences in upcoming matches.

The Gambia and Sudan will have to pay 5,000 dollars for the throwing of missiles, including stones, during their 2017 matches against Mauritania and Ivory Coast respectively.(NAN)

Chelsea star Mikel Obi has charged the Super Eagles to give everything when they face Egypt for the second time in four days in Alexandria in their quest to qualify Nigeria for next year’s AFCON in Gabon.

Egypt remain remain top of their qualifying group with seven points, two points more than Nigeria, after a 1-1 draw in Kaduna on Friday in Kaduna.

Nigeria captain Mikel said the Eagles have to fight harder than they have ever done to snatch the three points at the Borg El-Arab Stadium in the Mediterranean coast.

“It’s a massive battle that we are going for, and there should be no illusion about it. We have to face reality, and everyone has to give more than 100 per cent because we just have to qualify for the Cup of Nations,” said Obi, one of Nigeria’s outstanding players when they won the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa three years ago.

The midfield enforcer insisted there was no reason to panic following Friday’s draw, and pointed to the fact that there are still three more matches left in the campaign.

“We have to go to Alexandria and fight with everything we have. There are still matches to play and we have confidence that we will earn the ticket. We also call on Nigerians to believe in the team and continue to support us.”

After the clash with the Pharaohs in Alexandria on Tuesday, the Eagles will travel to Nd’jamena to battle the Le Sao of Chad in the first week of June, before hosting Tanzania in the final round of the series in the first week of September.

NFF top shots have confirmed that the players and officials will now travel to Alexandria on Monday aboard a chartered flight, as against an earlier arrangement to fly the delegation aboard Egypt Air.

The team will fly direct to Alexandria and have the official training at the match venue on Monday evening, before Tuesday’s match.

The Chelsea midfielder told nigeriasoccer.com said he and his team mates  expected the Egyptians to give the ball back to them after it was kicked out to allow one of the players recover from an injury.

He however expressed confidence they will beat their opponent next Tuesday in Alexandria.

"We feel cheated with the way the Egyptians scored their goal," a visibly disappointed Mikel told nigeriasoccernet.com after the game.

"We expected them to give the ball back to us after one of my team mates kicked it out to enable the referee attend to the injured player, but instead they went on with play and scored.

"Even though it hurts a lot, there is a lot to play in the group. We believe we can beat them in Alexandria and that is what we are doing to do.

Super Eagles were forced to 1-1 draw by their Egyptian opponents, the Pharaohs, in Friday's Africa Cup of Nations Afcon ) double-header first-leg clash at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna.

Attacking midfielder Oghenekaro Etebo put Nigeria in front in the 60th minute while Muhammed Salah scored at the death to hand the North Africans a crucial away point.

Chukwu said the Eagles were careless in the dying minutes, allowing the Egyptians the luxury of an equaliser.

"It was a sad result to finish the match at 1-1 against Egypt with few minutes remaining to play in the key Afcon clash.

"I think the defenders suffered a momentary loss of concentration at a time they should have been 100 percent alert.

"The Egyptians were more tactical throughout the duration of the match while we appeared to be under intense pressure to conjure a victory.

"Well let us see what happens in the reverse fixture clash next Tuesday in Alexandria.

"It will not be an easy game, but Egypt will be under pressure to win and that will likely open up the match, which we can use to get the all-important win.

"The game and contest for the group's qualification ticket is still wide open among the contending countries, Egypt, Nigeria and now suddenly Tanzania as well..

"We must strengthen ourselves to go for the broke, throw in everything into the match at Alexandria and chance winning right there at in their backyard.

"Egypt are quite beatable in Alexandria but we must be prepared to do what is needed, " said the former Nigerian strongman to supersport.com.

The score draw still leaves Nigeria on five points, two behind Egypt heading into the reverse fixture clash on Tuesday at the Borg El-Arab Stadium in Alexandria, Egypt.

The group's winners are guaranteed an automatic spot at the Afcon final in Gabon.

Super Eagles coach Samson Siasia has blamed his defenders for the last-gasp equaliser his team conceded against Egypt in Friday's 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier here in Kaduna.

He also slammed the Egyptian players for not playing to the rules of the game. The Super Eagles ?were three minutes away from earning their first victory under Siasia but were denied by Mohamed Salah who was played onside by Godfrey Oboabona.

Siasia who?se side now face a daunting task in the reverse fixture in Alexandra believes his side can still win. 'You don't leave a dangerous player like Salah alone," a frustrated Siasia told reporters moments after the 1-1 draw.

?"I blame the defenders for their play. You don't lose concentration in the dying seconds of the game. "

Also the Egyptians were guilty of not playing to the rules. "It was fair play and ?felt they should have abided by it."

Experienced Egypt glovesman Essam El-Hadary has been ruled out of the African Cup of Nations qualifier against Nigeria on Friday evening.

El-Hadary sustained a calf muscle injury on Thursday during training and various reports in the Egyptian press have confirmed that his name has been excluded from the roster.

At this point, it is not clear the number of days he will have to spend on the sidelines or whether he would be available for selection next Tuesday in the reverse fixture against the Super Eagles.

El-Hadary has won four African Cup of Nations titles with the Egyptian squad, with the last coming in 2010.

Hany Abo Rida, Vice-President of Egyptian Football Association, has stated that the Pharaohs will not file a complaint to CAF over the shabby treatment they received from the Nigerian Federation on arrival in Kaduna.

Rida, who is also a member of Fifa and CAF Executive Committee, has said that the EFA does not want to cause a diplomatic row between the two countries and promised to be hospitable to the Super Eagles when they arrive in Alexandria this weekend.

“We will not file a complaint against Nigeria to adequately preserve the relations between Egypt and Nigeria, ” Hany Abo Rida told reporters.

“We will not also treat the Nigerian contingent in Egypt similarly because Egypt  can not go wrong in a right way and must offer to be the brother’s keeper for every delegation.”

It is understood that the bone of contention is the Egyptian Football Association was not pleased with the hotel accommodation and the state of the Ahmadu Bello Stadium pitch.

Rida, who is also a member of Fifa and CAF Executive Committee, has said that the EFA does not want to cause a diplomatic row between the two countries and promised to be hospitable to the Super Eagles when they arrive in Alexandria this weekend.

“We will not file a complaint against Nigeria to adequately preserve the relations between Egypt and Nigeria, ” Hany Abo Rida told reporters.

“We will not also treat the Nigerian contingent in Egypt similarly because Egypt  can not go wrong in a right way and must offer to be the brother’s keeper for every delegation.”

It is understood that the bone of contention is the Egyptian Football Association was not pleased with the hotel accommodation and the state of the Ahmadu Bello Stadium pitch.

Legendary Egypt goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary has been ruled out of the clash againstNigeria through injury.

The 42-year-old suffered an gastrocnemius muscle injury in the Pharaohs’ first training session in Kaduna today, which will keep him out from the clash tomorrow against the Super Eagles.

Egypt are now left with Zamalek keeper Ahmed El-Shennawy and Petrojet’s Mohammed El-Shennawy as back-up to face Nigeria in the crucial 2017 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifier.

The news comes as a blow after Zamalek winger Mostafa Fathi had also collected a stomach muscle injury which kept him out of the trip to Nigeria.

Nigeria take on Egypt at Ahmadu Bello Stadium on the 25th of March at 18;00 CLT.

The Super Eagles training session on Wednesday evening will be partially open to the media and supporters of the national team, according to the Nigeria Football Federation.

Media outlets, journalists and supporters have been given the opportunity to watch the first fifteen minutes of the training session before the team starts training behind closed doors.

There are no injury worries in the Nigeria camp ahead of Friday evening’s tie against the Egyptians, with Arsenal young star Alex Iwobi poised to resume full training.

The former England youth-teamer had an individual session with the physiotherapist on Tuesday evening after picking up traveler’s flu.

The Egyptian national team, under the helms of Argentinean manager Hector Cuper, have finalised their training camp in 6 October City on the outskirts of Cairo ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Nigeria.

The Pharaohs are flying to Nigeria for their anticipated game on Wednesday afternoon for the first leg.The second leg will be on Tuesday 29 March at home.

The seven-time African champions Egypt won the tournament the last three times they participated (2006, 2008 and 2010), though failed to qualify for the next three tournaments under the helms of various managers including Hassan Shehata, his assistant Shawky Gharib and American Bob Bradley.

Cuper, 59, promised to make Egypt return to their glory days insisting he is "confident that the team is capable of overcoming Nigeria."

 Assistant coach of Egypt’s national team, Osama Nabih, has identified three factors that could derail his side’s chances of posting creditable results against Nigeria in this month’s 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifying matches.

Three-time champions, Nigeria,will face Egypt in the first of two 2017 Afcon qualifiers at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna on March 25 with the return fixture coming up four days later at the Borg El-Arab Stadium in Alexandria.

Nabih says Nigeria are favourites for three reasons.

“The first difficulty is Nigeria is a big name on the African continent, despite failing to reach the last edition of the Africa Cup.

“Nigeria is coached by Samson Siasia who reached the Olympic Games by (winning a silver medal) first with the Under-23 team.

“Moreover, Nigeria have 22 foreign-based players alongside well-prepared ones in the domestic Nigerian league. So Siasia possesses all the tools that lead to success.

“Despite the difficulty of the Nigeria game, we are working to improve our chance of qualifying for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations finals in the coming Nigeria game,” Nabih told Egyptian media outfit, www.nilesports.com.

Egypt lead Group G with six points, two ahead of second-placed Nigeria.

Only the group winners are guaranteed automatic qualification for the 2017 Afcon.

The first leg will be held in Kaduna on the 25th of March, while the second leg is going to be played four days later in Alexandria.

“I have a good feeling that we will be able to win the match. Nigeria is a good tough team but we’re good too. I also feel that I am surrounded by support from everyone encouraging us to get back to winning,” Elneny explained.

When asked about wether he talked with his fellow team mate in Arsenal Alex Iwobi about the match, Elneny confirmed that they did speak about it briefly. “I told him that it will be hard for Nigeria to beat Egypt.”

The young midfielder answered the question about who he would choose as the best player in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi by choosing the Argentinean legend.

“Messi is a unique football talent. Ronaldo is not a lot less than him but Messi is better without a doubt,” he added.

Egypt is currently on top of its group with six points after beating Chad and Tanzania, while Nigeria is in the second place with four points.

While Arsenal star, Alex Iwobi hit camp on Sunday night, Chelsea star, Mikel flew in Monday morning from London. He arrived alongside Efe Ambrose who plays for Celtic of Scotland.

Other players who are in camp as at Monday morning (8am) are Mikel Obi, Alex Iwobi, Efe Ambrose, Shehu Abdullahi, Aminu Umar, Ike Ezenwa, Etebo Oghenekaro.

Team Coordinator, Patrick Pascal disclosed that more players are expected to arrive camp any moment from now.

He said those expected from overseas and the home based players who were away to play weekend’s game in the Nigeria Professional Football League are being expected with no training likely to hold today.

He, however, revealed that the Eagles leave for Kaduna on Tuesday after the morning training session, at the Abuja National Stadium, which will be open to the media.

Nigeria’s senior team will play against Egypt on Good Friday, 25 March in the first leg of the qualifiers for the AFCON 2017 in Gabon and the return leg will hold four days later in Alexandria, Egypt.

Egypt assistant coach, Mahmoud Fayez stoked the fire of the mind games ahead of the African Cup of Nations qualifier between the Super Eagles and the Pharaohs, saying the Eagles will lose in Kaduna.

The Egyptians are desperate to reach their first AFCON final since 2010. They currently have their destiny in their hands in the group G pairings featuring Nigeria, Chad and Tanzania. The Egyptian will open camp on March 20 and according to Fayaze their plan is to stop the Super Eagles from playing their game. .

"We know everything about Nigeria, we have been studying them. They are a very good side but we have our plans in place to beat them"he said.

"We think we are a capable of going to Kaduna and not just winning but also shutting them out totally. We simply cant afford to let them score and they wont, as we know what to do when we get there" Fayez told supersport.com.

"The national team needs all the support from our fans to make this possible," he added.

However, coach Samson Siasia said there should be mutual respect between the two teams as they chase qualification for the tournament in 2017.

The Nigeria Football Federation have reportedly agreed a contract with the erstwhile Oman national team boss, but seemingly have backtracked on that stance, with an assurance to interim coach Samson Siasia that the issue of a foreign coach will not be on the front burner, albeit for now.

Nigeriasoccernet.com sought the opinion of the coach who assisted Sunday Oliseh before the recent resignation of the former Nigeria  international, on the subject of a foreign coach.

"I know Paul Le Guen very well. He was a great player and he has vital experience in coaching as well," Loscuito remarks during an exclusive chat with Completesportsnigeria.com.

"If Nigeria go for him, it will not be a bad choice. Coaching or the style of football coaches adopt is not the problem of Nigerian football," Loscuito, who is in Lome,  Togo, where he is receiving treatment after food poisoning and an operation further stated.

Loscuito says the problem of Nigerian football goes beyond the football players on the field and the coaches on the dugout.

[caption id="attachment_317717" align="aligncenter" width="273"] Odion Ighalo[/caption]

 Nigeria striker has denied rumors suggesting he picked up an injury in Watford’s latest victory, and insists he will be ready for the upcoming matches vs Egypt.

The Nigeria international helped his side advance to the 2016 FA Cup semi-finals after beating Mohamed Elneny’s Arsenal on Sunday. The 26-year-old striker scored Watford’s opener before being replaced by Moroccan winger Nordin Amrabat in the 82nd minute.

“It isn’t true that I was injured during the game and my substitution was just a precaution from the coach. I’m fit and there’s nothing to worry about

With Egypt coach Hector Cuper expected to hand invitations to a number of players in the ranks of Al Ahly,  Ebimobowei has been discussing the outcome of the meeting with his former teammates.

“I will say it is a big game for both countries,” Ebimobowei,who now plies his trade for El-Entag.

“The mood is high here, I spoke to some of my former teammates like Hossam Ghaly and others but I think Nigeria will come out on top by the end of the game.”

As you would expect, the ex-Bayelsa United goal poacher has advised the Nigeria squad to pay special attention to the pacy Roma winger Mohamed Salah.

“I think they played with a 4-4-2 formation in their last friendly with Burkina Faso.

“They love keeping the ball and possession,  they have one fast winger (Salah) that can run very well, ” Ebimobowei added.

The Nigeria handlers continue to finetune their strategies to defeat Egypt at a get-together in Abuja, while the North Africans will start closed camping in the next five days.

Unimpressed by his side’s work rate in their goalless draw with Katsina United in Thursday’s preparatory friendly for the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) decider against Egypt on March 25 and 29, respectively, the interim coach of the Super Eagles, Samson Siasia, has challenged the Super Eagles home stars to show they can be relied on to deliver the goods in crucial matches whenever the need arises.

The side, made up mostly of home-based professionals, struggled to continue their opponents played inside the main bowl of the National Stadium, Abuja.

“We have to step up our commitment level and show more seriousness,” the coach, furious, opened up to his players.

“I am yet to see that hunger in all of you in all the friendly matches we have played so far, since we opened this camp. We are facing Egypt in about two weeks and we will not stand any chance against them if we do not change our attitude.

“How can we, the Super Eagles, play against this NNL team and fail to create one clear-cut goal-scoring opportunity? If we cannot create chances in this kind of games, when and where will we be able to create them? I know we are far better than this performance and will improve but we have to do so very quickly; we are racing against time.”

Since opening camp last Sunday in Abuja, the side has played three friendly games, two of them against the Rio Olympics-bound Nigeria U-23 team. They have managed to score twice and, also, conceded two goals, a situation that the coaches would want changed as preparation shifts to a higher level in the coming days