Amodu wants patience for 'average' Eagles

Nigeria coach Shuaibu Amodu has played down the high expectations of fans for his wards by saying the team is 'average' at this time.
But he insists that they will qualify for the World Cup by grinding out results.

"The entire team is not the best of teams yet,"Amodu told KickOffNigeria.com. "We are little more than average as a team because we are still in the team building process.

"But most of the players are still coming up in their various clubs and our expectation is that as long as they keep playing for their clubs and playing for Nigeria, big clubs will see them and they will gather more experience.

"The team does not pass the pass the ball as well as we would like them to as there is a lot of pressure to win.

"With time, they will improve and get better as a team."

Time, however, is a commodity that Amodu has precious little of and he knows it, with World Cup qualification a must.

"Nigeria cannot afford not to go to the World Cup," he admits. "Other teams need it, but we need it more. If we can win all our games, fine. If we cant, we will just get the results that will take us through.

"That is the important thing for now, and the players realise it."

But the coach insists that fans and media must cut his players some slack and ease up on the virulent criticism.

"There is too much negativity directed at the team and it is not good for the psychology of the team."