After a return from international exile, the weapon of mass destruction would be hoping to lead Sunday Oliseh’s men to victory against the minnows
Nigeria take on hosts Swaziland in Lobamba on Friday as coach Sunday Oliseh seeks a positive result in order to assure of reaching the next round of qualifiers for 2018 Fifa World Cup Russia.
The former international midfielder has lost just a match in four since taking over from Stephen Keshi in mid-year.
Though the Super Eagles are expected to win comfortably at the Somhlolo National Stadium, they must be wary of the southern Africans who dispatched Djibouti 8-1 on aggregate to reach this stage.
And knowing what is at stake, coach Harris Bulunga believes team unity can help his men upstage the ‘dangerous’ Nigerian side.
“We are facing one of the superpowers of African football so we cannot get carried away, go out and attack even though we are playing at home,” said Bulunga.
“We need to respect the Nigerian team because they are made up of mostly professional players who we watch on television, we know what they are all about and how dangerous they can be, so we need to be careful.
“We don’t have a lot of stars but for us it is all about team work. We have got a very united team that has been together for a long time.
“They fight for each other. So it is the unity in us that has helped us achieve what we have achieved recently,” he concluded.
Attention will be firmly on Obafemi Martins who stages a return to the Nigerian team after announcing his international retirement on December 4, 2014 owing to lack of international games.
The 31-year-old who last played in a World Cup qualifier under Keshi in 2013 has been in fine form for MLS side Seattle Sounders with 15 goals so far in the American topflight.
Having netted 18 times in 39 appearances for the country, he would be hoping to stage a goal scoring comeback in Lobamba, as he is expected to spearhead Super Eagles attack alongside Watford’s hotshot Odion Ighalo.
Nigeria will also be able to count on the service of newly invited youngster Kelechi Iheanacho as they hope to break down the hosts.
Swaziland are ranked 130th by Fifa while the Super Eagles are ranked 59th.
As at this post Swaziland has 7.72 odd to win the match on NaijaBet while Nigeria has 1.39 odd to win the match also, while the odd to draw the match is 4.47.