Amodu Shaibu does not nurse any fear that Nigeria's traditional rivals -- Ghana -- could halt Super Eagles' ambition of winning Mali 2002 Nations Cup and he makes no pretence about his confidence.

Amodu said Ghana deserves all the respect they could get, but Nigeria has reached a stage of no going back in this tournament till the mission had been accomplished successfully.

According to him: "Now that we are in a knock-out stage, I said it after we qualified for quarter-final that the knock-out stage is not a place where you go in to gamble. You have to go in there to win because any slip there and it is all over.

"So, we are now preparing and doing everything we can to ensure that we go past that level. And we are not sure Ghana will be able to stand us at this stage. Therefore, let's calm down and believe in our players because we have the potential.

"We have told the players that, whatever happens, no opposition should stop us from realising our ambition because we are an ambitious side. We have come here to play to a respectable level and quarter-final is not good enough. " he said.

Amodu said Ghana has never been a bad team and has a tradition for very good play adding that even in this tournament they are not a bad side. "For them to have scored those two quick goals against Burkina Faso showed the kind of resilience they have. It also showed the kind of Ghanaian team that they are known for. It is not gonna be easy but we are going to go very hard too."

Amodu, however, is monitoring the recovery rate of Tijani Babangida who was almost strechered out of play in the match against Liberia last Monday to determine his fitness for Sunday's match.

Babangida was still limping and could not join the team in a training session Wednesday and Thursday evening after the doctor had advised him to rest the knee.

"Aside Babangida, every other player is fit. He wasn't able to join the squad for training this evening (Wednesday). He is still limping. We will look at how it goes before Sunday's match. He looks to me like somebody who could recover, but outside that, everybody is okay. He was a little bit hit on the knee," he said.(