Nigeria's Super Eagles have reiterated their promise to give England
a tough final game in the "Group of Death", despite having no chance of
making the second round themselves.
England are well placed to make it into the last 16, but could go out if
Argentina and Sweden draw and they lose to Nigeria.
Coach Onigbinde says there is no way his side is going to be a push-over.
"We have to fulfil our responsibility," Onigbinde confirmed.
"We are here to play the three
matches in the first round, and we have the responsibility to field our best
team in each game."
But he says he and the players are not thinking about trying to prevent
England from making the next round.
"The fact that we might be able to stop England from qualifying is not our
"We are not after any particular team. I have said this
all along. We do not have anything against any specific country.
going to play our normal game and get whatever result we get out of it.
are not working for England or Argentina or Sweden. We are going to be
But many of the players are saying privately that they are finding it
difficult to motivate themselves for the game, with nothing at stake for
Captain Jay Jay Okocha says it will be his last game for Nigeria, and he
will make way for the next generation of players.
All the younger squad members can hope for is to put in a good individual
performance so that they might get spotted by a big European club.
And for the coaching staff the next goal is the 2004 Nations Cup, with
qualifying matches beginning in three months time.