Former Nigeria defender Pascal: Eagles have lost fear factor

 Patrick Pascal has claimed that the Super Eagles no longer strike fear into their opponents, blaming the leadership crisis in the Nigeria Football Federation for the development.

The former Nigeria defender believes the Eagles are not the force they were last year, when they won the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa and qualified for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The team reached the second round.

Congo pulled off the biggest shock of the Morocco 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers when the unrated Red Devils defeated the Eagles 3-2 in their Group A opening fixture in Calabar on September 6. The African champions continued their poor run of form as they battled to a goalless draw against South Africa in Cape Town four days later. Continue..

With Congo leading the group on six points followed by South Africa on four points, Nigeria, who are third in the table on one point, have been left with no option but to win their remaining qualifying games to stand a chance of defending their title in Morocco.

The Eagles face whipping boys of Group A Sudan in Khartoum on October 11 while the reverse fixture takes place four days later in Abuja.

Former Turkey and Belgium-based Pascal, who bemoaned the Eagles’ poor start   to the Morocco 2015 qualifiers, insisted the team would have picked up full points from their last two encounters “if the NFF had put their house in order”.

“I’m afraid of Sudan because of what is going on in our football,” the former Shooting Stars player, who made the victorious Atlanta ’96 Olympic Games’ reserve list, told our correspondent on the telephone on Wednesday.

“No team in Africa fears us again. Congo came here and played us without fear, because they knew we were having problems in our football.

“They knew coach Stephen Keshi’s fate is hanging in the balance and that our team didn’t prepare well for the game.

“South Africa attacked us with a lot of confidence. They weren’t scared of us because Congo beat us 3-2 at home.

“We were lucky to come out of the pitch with a draw in the game.”

He added, “The match against Sudan is just around the corner. Do we have plans to win the game?

“Any bad result in the game against Sudan will end our qualification hopes but people are fighting to control the NFF.

“We should support whoever wins the NFF presidential election and work for victory against Sudan.

“Keshi’s contract should be renewed immediately to enable him to focus on the task ahead. We have a chance of reaching Morocco if we resolve the crisis in our football.”