Nigeria will play Ethiopia in the World Cup qualifiers on Sunday.
The Super Eagles enter the matchup as the favorites after winning the Africa Cup of Nations last Spring. Nigeria won its Group with 12 points; the team won three and drew three games. Meanwhile, Ethiopia enters the game after barely beating out South Africa for the top spot in Group A. Ethiopia won four games, drew one, and lost another.
Despite being the favorites, Nigeria's Coach Stephen Keshi has asked the fans to pray for the team to reign victorious on Sunday. "Nigerians should pray for us to make them very proud," Keshi said, according to All Africa. "The mindset of the team is to go out there and get a good result for Nigeria and also make ourselves proud.
"We are the major actors on the field and we need to be able to showcase what we can do and then make Nigeria's flag fly there," he added. "We have big responsibilities and we are aware of this and determined to make Nigerians proud at the end of the match in Addis Ababa."
Nigeria was also involved in the Confederations Cup this summer and had the experience of playing playoff soccer against Uruguay, Spain and Tahiti. The team took down Tahiti 6-1 before losing 2-1 against Uruguay. Nigeria gave Spain all it could handle before losing to the World Champs by the score of 3-0.
Prediction: Nigeria wins 2-1 in Ethiopia.
Start Time: The match gets underway at 8:45 a.m. EST.
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