Nigeria coach Amodu insists on top stars for Nations Cup (15.08.2001)
LAGOS, Aug 14
Nigeria will field their strongest team available for the African Nations Cup in Mali in January, coach Shaibu Amodu said on Tuesday.
"The Nations Cup in Mali is crucial in our preparations for the World Cup and as such we will use our best players for the championship," Amodu told AFP.
"Our plan is to discover some new players during the friendly matches planned for later this year.
"Thereafter, these new discoveries will battle for places in the team with their more established counterparts when we get together for the Nations Cup in December."
Officials told AFP that they have received invitations from countries like Japan and South Korea for friendly matches.
Amodu, who has
submitted his programme for both the Nations Cup and the 2002 World Cup, said he would prefer his Eagles to prepare outside Nigeria for the Mail showpiece.
"We hope to train outside Nigeria (for the Nations Cup) so as to avoid the many destractions we face preparing at home", he said.
The Eagles are most likely to set up camp in a neigbouring West African country, where the climatic conditions are similar to Mali.
Nigeria have won the African Nations Cup twice, in 1980 and 1994, and have beaten finalists for four times.
The highly-rated Eagles topped their qualifying group which included Zambia, Madagascar and Namibia to reach the final phase of the biennial competition.
