President Goodluck wishes the Eagles "Good luck"

Nigeria's new President, President Goodluck Jonathan has wished the Super Eagles the best of luck and encouraged them to win the first ever world cup to be held on an African soil, the FIFA 2010 World Cup in honour of Nigeria as the country celebrates her 50 years of nationhood this year. 

The president at the send forth dinner organised in the honour of the Eagles at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja last night, said “I call on you (the team) to bring home the golden cup as a present for our country’s golden jubilee.” 

 

“As the main actors it is your duty, especially Coach Lagerback to ensure that we perform well. You must see yourselves not just as footballers but as ambassadors of the country,” Jonathan stated.

“May I use this opportunity to pay a special tribute to Yar’Adua for ensuring that we qualified for the World Cup.”

On monetary or the reward for a superlative outing he said, “Members of my staff have been asking me exactly what promise I’ll make to the Eagles especially given this opportunity. But what I’ll tell you is to play well and win and be sure that you be well rewarded for your effort,” he said.

President Jonathan announced that he will be in South Africa at the start of the competition and will watch the opening match between hosts South Africa and Mexico on June 11 and then watch the Nigeria versus Argentina game in Johannesburg the following day which will be the first match for the Eagles in the month-long event.

The president of the Nigeria Football Federation Alhaji Sani Lulu pleaded with Nigerians to fully back the Eagles in their attempt to win the World Cup. “This is the time for all of us to join hands, support the team and do away with the pull down syndrome. We pray that by the grace of God we’ll deliver the trophy to President Jonathan in another ceremony like this in July.”

The event was attended by all the invited players except for John Utaka and John Mikel Obi who both stayed back in London to fully recover from illness and injury respectively. 

They will play against North Korea on June 6 in their last warm up match before the battle for the most coveted soccer trophy begins.