Izuchukwu OkosiThe Super Eagles are keen to give their very best on Sunday afternoon as they play against the Brave Warriors of Zimbabwe in their second Group C game of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying fixtures.
Still stung by their loss of two points to Lesotho on home soil on Day 1 of their 10-match qualification series, the Eagles took to the pitch of Huye Stadium, Butare on Saturday evening for the official training, and refused to be bothered about the state of the artificial turf which is close to threadbare.
The venue will host Sunday’s Day 2 encounter between the Eagles and the Warriors of Zimbabwe, where another three precious points are at stake for the Eagles to roll their campaign back on track.
Captain Kenneth Omeruo told thenff.com after Saturday’s training session at the venue which is 135 kilometres away from the Rwandan capital, Kigali that the team isn’t.
“We are on a redemption mission; a serious business is what we have come for. The pitch is poor but we can’t be bothered right now. We want to get into action and pick up three points.”
South Africa’s 2-1 defeat of Benin Republic’s Cheetahs on Saturday means the Bafana Bafana are top of Group C temporarily, before Sunday’s encounter which is the first Day 2 match in the pool.
The Eagles’ delegation flew into Kigali on Saturday morning, and then travelled two hours by road to Butare where they are camped at the Hotel Mater Boni Consilii. On arrival, the warm hosts handed the Nigeria team flowers, with wishes of good luck in Sunday’s encounter against the Warriors.
Sunday’s match will start at 3pm Rwanda time (2pm Nigeria time), and will be superintended by Djiboutian official Souleiman Ahmed Djama, with his compatriots Liban Abdoulrazack Ahmed (assistant referee 1), Rachid Waiss Bouraleh (assistant referee 2) and Mohamed Diraneh Guedi (fourth official) also in action.
Yohannes Ghirmai Ghebregziabher from Eritrea will serve as referee assessor and Raphael Lyson Humba from Malawi is the match commissioner.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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