Nigeria men’s amputee football team, the Special Eagles, will hope to get their first win at the ongoing Amputee Nations Cup in Egypt as they face newcomers Burundi in their second and final group game on Tuesday (today), PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
The Special Eagles began their campaign with a goalless draw against hosts Egypt in the opening game on Saturday and they need a win to be sure of a place in the next round of the competition which also serves as a qualifier for the 2026 Amputee World Cup in Morocco.
Nigeria captain, Sarafadeen Oyeleke, said the team will not leave anything to chance against the newcomers who must have played hosts Egypt on Monday.
“The draw in our first game was a good outcome, we had our chances, they had theirs and one of our players, Kennedy Ezeji even won the Player of The Match award,” Oyeleke said.
I’m very optimistic that the next game against Burundi will favor us. By the time they played against Egypt, we would have studied them because we haven’t played them before and we will also spend time on some of their previous matches.
With the caliber of players we have and the technical crew, we should be able to get a result. We cannot underrate them. Every team here is well prepared. “We just want the three points and as many goals as we can so we can top the table regardless of their result with Egypt and proceed to the knockout stage,” the captain told PUNCH Sports Extra.
Cameroon were supposed to be Nigeria’s last opponent in the tournament but the West African neighbors are not at the championship.
Seven out of the countries who progress to the last eight will make it to the World Cup in 2026.
Nigeria’s best outing at the Nations Cup was a second-place finish at the 2019 edition in Angola, losing 2-0 to the hosts in the final.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: [email protected]
