Danny Shittu admits Nigeria will be under pressure from their fans
Nigeria's Danny Shittu has admitted the Super Eagles will face criticism back home following their goalless draw in Mozambique on Sunday.
The result in Maputo leaves Nigeria two points behind early Group B pace-setters Tunisia in the 2010 World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The Carthage Eagles top the group after a 2-1 win over hosts Kenya on Saturday.
"Obviously there will be pressure on us now because people expected us to win this game," the defender said.
"But there's still a long way to go and we've still got to play Tunisia twice.
"Mozambique definitely surprised us and they played well, so we're happy to have kept a clean sheet against that kind of team.
"But we're disappointed we didn't win - we came here for a victory."
Nigeria coach Shaibu Amodu believes that the other teams in the group will also struggle in Maputo.
"Mozambique are no push-overs and any team who comes here must be ready because otherwise they will go down," he said.
It could have been worse for Nigeria had Dario Monteiro's 26th-minute header not been disallowed for offside, a goal Mozambique's players and coach believe should have stood.
"That was a very close decision, but we're happy it didn't count," said Nigeria's Joseph Yobo, who flew out to watch the match despite being injured.
"But we had chances too. We thought Obafemi Martins had scored at the end and rushed off the bench to celebrate because we thought it was in - it was that close.
"A point is good enough here, we're still very confident and we're not really worried about Tunisia because we're going to play them ourselves.
"Those games are going to be the big ones for us, but we have to beat Kenya at home before then as well."
Nigeria host Kenya in early June before travelling to Tunis two weeks later for the first of two crunch ties against the Carthage Eagles.
By then, the Nigerians - bidding for their fourth World Cup finals - should be able to call upon both Yobo and striker Yakubu, who's still recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon.
"We can't wait to welcome back players like that, players who will help our squad score more goals and keep more clean sheets," added Shittu, one of Nigeria's best performers in Maputo.
"It's unfortunate they're injured so we can't wait for them to be back in the team and helping us to qualify.
"It doesn't matter who plays, it's all about Nigeria qualifying this year."
To the dismay of their passionate fans, the Super Eagles failed to reach the 2006 World Cup finals after surprisingly losing out to then group rivals Angola.
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