Amavubi in Calabar

SaturdayNigeria vs Rwanda 6pmCALABAR – Rwanda’s delegation to Nigeria for Saturday’s 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against the home team touched based in Calabar yesterday afternoon from Lagos aboard an Arik Air flight.The Amavubi team, which is staying at Channel View Hotel in Canaan City on the outskirts of Calabar, held their first training last evening since leaving Kigali on Tuesday.Amavubi face Nigeria’s Super Eagles in the second leg of the 2013 Africa Nations’ cup qualifier tomorrow evening. The fist leg in Kigali in March ended goalless.Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojovic will continue to take his troops through their paces this afternoon at U J Esuene Stadium, the venue for Saturday’s crucial clash, as he seeks to upset odds by eliminating pre-match favourites Nigeria.The team’s arrival didn’t attract any attention from ordinary Nigerians, who were busy with their normal businesses at the Lagos Airport. From the airport, the team was taken to Linton hotel where they spent a night before flying to Calabar, a city in Cross River State, coastal South-eastern Nigeria on Thursday. Fans, along the way to the airport, kept on waving 2-0 victory in favour of the hosts in tomorrow’s clash. The home team arrived in Calabar on Tuesday.It is eight years ago since Amavubi last clashed with the Super Eagles in a competitive match in Nigeria. On June 5, 2004, in a 2006 Fifa World Cup qualifying match at the National Stadium, Abuja. Obafemi Martins’ brace gave Nigeria a 2-0 win.The reason the Nigerian FA brought the game to Calabar is because this state still has much love and support for Super Eagles unlike in the bigger cities Lagos and Abuja where the team is always criticised.The match will be played in a small stadium that accommodates a capacity of just over 12,000 fans, which is expected to fill to capacity as the hosts look for a win to progress to the next qualifying round.

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Amavubi in Calabar