Retired Nigerian Fifa referee, Dr Alex Mana has said Super Eagles will pay dearly for playing pranks with the weather in Kenya.
The
Super Eagles are expected to arrive Nairobi, Kenya on Tuesday from
Germany after the heartwarming 2-2 friendly game in Houston, Texas with
the El-Tri of Mexico for the 2014 Fifa World Cup qualifier against the
East African foes, the Harambee Stars at the Moi International Sports
Centre, Kasarani on Wednesday.
Mana says the Eagles have put themselves in a difficult situation
going into the crucial game in an high altitude region without any form
of acclimatisation.
"Its very awful and terrible for the team to be planning for a
crucial game in a high altitude region as Kenya without considering, at
least, good number of days to acclimatise in Kenya or with countries
that share same climate before the encounter.
"Its simply unfortunate and really bad for us to be committing such
unpardonable blunder and at same time put the team's success at great
risk.
"Kenyans will be mostly dominated with the domestic players who are
very well at home with the weather and favoured to cope better than
first time visitors like the Super Eagles.
"Kenya have already taken a 1-1 draw advantage into the game, their
morale and psychology are high while we'll as always be depending on
luck in place of adequate preparations.
"It saddens my heart that we practically overlooked the importance of weather to the success or otherwise in that game.
"The only way to avoid a backlash is to have as many
replacements as possible on match day. Unfortunately, football can only
allow three substitutions. Its truly bad for us," said the don of the
National Institute for Sports (NIS) to supersport.com.
Nigeria are tied on five points with Malawi though ahead on superior
goals and must win at Kenya and Namibia to be guaranteed the top spot
of the group. Malawi are on two straight home against Namibia and Kenya
on June 05 and 12 respectively. (Supersport)