The Nation Newspaper

Tag: FIFA

  • SUPER FALCONS TACKLE SIASIA BOYS TODAY

    SUPER FALCONS TACKLE SIASIA BOYS TODAY

    Nigeria national women team,Super Falcons will on Tuesday lock horns with Sia One Academy in a test match at the practice pitch of the FIFA Goal project in Abuja.

    The test game slated for 7 30 in the morning is one of the three games lined up to prepare the Super Falcons for the international friendly game against Cameroon on April 29 in Abuja.

    Super Falcons Chief Coach Edwin Okon, who reiterated his resolve to build a strong team that Nigerians would be proud of said he would be able to use the matches to select the squad that will face the Indomitable Lioness of Cameroon.

    He added that the friendly would enable him and his assistants the opportunity to select the final squad for the Africa Women Championship (AWC) qualifier against Rwanda next month adding “I am looking beyond Rwanda, our target is the World Cup proper”

    Meanwhile captain of the team, Evelyn Nwabuoku has commended her team mates for the way they have been responding to training even as she urged them to translate their efforts with victories over both sides respectively.

    “The new girls in camp are doing so well that I won’t be surprised if the coaches give some of them the nod to start in the game against Cameroon next week” she stated

    The team trained yesterday morning with the full complement of players who where released to go and play for the various clubs at the weekend.

  • ROAD TO BRAZIL WORLD CUP

    ROAD TO BRAZIL WORLD CUP

    FOOTBALL, Futaball, Voetball, Calio Soccer, Jiso, whatever this game with the round leather ball may be called in the various languages, it is the game with the widest international following. FIFA, the International Football Federation has over 200 member Associations. With less than two months to go to the Brazilian 2014 World Cup explosion, it is time to examine the past to enable us predict some of the outcomes of the summer Tournament. Even then, the road to the World Cup is analogous to a puzzle with innumerable pieces. As we draw closer to the opening date, more pieces will fall into place. Nigeria will clash with Argentina and they are in the same group. Brazil is a Football super power, and Brazil is hosting the World Cup for the second time. The citizens and her government expect the Team to win. We shall also look at the chances of our colonial masters, England. They brought this round leather ball game to our shores. Italy, Spain and of course Germany are seeded up and as in the World Cup tradition expected to go far and possibly win the cup. Below is therefore a country by country individual thrust, soccer tradition and pattern of play as they prepare to storm the World Cup in a few weeks time.

    Do Not Cry For Me, Argentina

    In 1994, Diego Maradona was disgraced and fell from the Olympian heights, after Argentina led the dangerous D group. Drugs took the centre stage and the world said goodbye to Maradona. In our days Argentinan super star, Messi with the Blue and White stripes returns to the field and is beckoning to the crowd: Do Not Cry For Me Argentina”. He has asked his countrymen to relax for he is looking forward to wipe away their tears and to use the World Cup platform to settle his scores with Christiano Ronaldo.

    After the joust we shall crown the best player in the world. Argentina will be too slippery to hold when Messi combines with Teves, Aguero upfront and they will top their group.

    GERMANY…. the Champs, the Tradition

    There is usually no World Cup without Germany or Brazil. To uphold the tradition, Germany must somehow find its way to the finals. This a Team that is never tired until the final blast of the whistle. Other teams measure their standards playing against Germany.

    This team is always changing in formation. Sometime ago, the Panza formation introduced a star named Matheus striking from the rear, with a dominating schemer Thomas Hassler swinging forward and coming back to help in the defence. The central defender, Jurgen Kohler was granite and we saw Rudi Voller and Rulad Wohlfarh continue the tradition of great strikers from Conmen Fritz, Geoff Menller to Kar-Heinz-Rummenige.

    After their home loss, when they hosted the World Cup, Germany took their time to rebuild. Now the German team is probably the most conditioned squad coming to Brazil. At the World Cup Ghanaian born Boaten would define the role of the full back. This is the wing that is lacking players in the Nigeria and in the English and French teams. There, we see one legged southpaws manning that important department.

    NIGERIA: The Physical Approach

    Nigeria’s recent successes in the FIFA organized world soccer tournaments put paid to the debate on whether Nigeria has a technical approach to the game. Nigeria, all along, has been blessed with a native system revolving round three fundamentals.

    Physical Fitness

    Nigerian football squads before competition are camped away from city life, where intensive training and body building exercises are emphasized to build a team of power, stamina and ruggedness. Discipline is highly regarded and sometimes skilled players are dropped for their lack of discipline.

    Business Football

    The Brazilian tap-tap movement is a last minute dessert to the Lagos fans who are only interested in the final results.

    Defensive Approach

    Generally, Nigerian pattern of football is like the Italians, defence oriented. Emphasizing rugged defence with a high standard of goalkeeping, the Nigerian offensive is usually launched from the wings. A physically conditioned winger by sheer body movement and natural speed, outpaces, confuses the opposing defence leaving a sitting No. 9 to find the net.

    In comparison with the Brazilians, who usually do not count on very good goalkeeping, the Nigerian system invests in good goalkeeping. Nigerian extra ordinary goalkeepers have tended to sustain their teams more than any other member of the team. On the other hand, Brazilian strength lies in the attack. Any defence that holds that attack stands a chance of beating Brazil. While Brazil’s orientation and system encourages everybody to make the goals, the Nigerian system is not that adventurous. Hence, there is a lot of overlapping from behind when Brazil is on the offensive. However, recent developments among her rivals have pushed Brazilian football towards the physical.

    Glancing through an N.P.A. Journal of 1961, a Sports Columnist put down in numbers the properties of a striker. He is the most intelligent and the greatest opportunist: He is the fastest human in the field; He is able to ram in the goals with the left or the right foot; Fists, head, his face, his chest abdomen are all factors in his assigned goal production; Above all, he is the star of the field.

    On the wings, Nigeria right from the European tour of 1949 had never lacked adventurous wingers. It is also notable that many Nigerian sides employ a lot of special offensive shots, improvised over the years. One of these is the massive throw-ins introduced into Nigerian soccer by Bendel Insurance’s Tony Ottah. These “Long-Throws” into the opposing Eighteen has on many instances thrown the opponent’s defence into disarray.

    Finally, successful Nigerian coaches have since Dan Anyiam built up the squad from where the African has the greatest advantage in the modern competitive arena of soccer… physical fitness.

    Where the supremacy is manifest and exposure okay, as seen in the handling of the Baby Eagles, the team was seen to have imbibed other qualities foreign to the African, producing an all round eleven of entertainment, grace and ruggedness.

     

    Next week; Brazil, England, Spain, Ghana and Algeria.

     

  • FORMER EAGLETS KEEPER, ADEYINKA UNDERGOES SUCCESSFUL SURGERY

    FORMER EAGLETS KEEPER, ADEYINKA UNDERGOES SUCCESSFUL SURGERY

    THE career of former Golden Eaglets first choice goalkeeper, Adeyinka Adewale, which seemed over due to an injury is back on track.

    SportingLife gathered that Adeyinka on Wednesday had a successful knee injury at Gbobi Specialist Hospital in Lagos, after he was operated on by German surgeons.

    Adeyinka was the first choice goal-tender of the victorious Golden Eaglets that won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in UAE, but lost the position to Dele Alampasu due to an injury. Adeyinka kept throughout the qualifiers, and was in goal during the U-17 Africa Junior Championships, where Nigeria won silver.

    The 2011 Shell Cup winner with Kwara Football Academy Secondary School was also with the Garba Manu-tutored team to the last preparation stage for the World Cup before he left the team when he couldn’t cope with the injury. Adeyinka, who later signed for Abubakar Bukola Saraki FC has not tasted any league action because of the injury, before he did the operation on Wednesday.

    The Administrator of Kwara Football Academy, Mutiu Adepoju said that KFA has to go that extra mile to get his career back on line because he has much to offer the game.

    Meanwhile, the management of Abubakar Bukola Saraki FC has wished Adeyinka quick recovery, even as they thanked God for him having a successful operation.

    The General Manager of the club, Alloy Chukwuemeka also commended the management and Board of KFA for saving the career of the young and promising player, who was earlier registered for the NNL by the club.

  • ROAD TO BRAZIL WORLD CUP

    INDIA in 1945, played as much good Football as England or Mexico. Her Football was expanding as her Cricket and Hockey became the pride of the nation.

    However, that growing Football League went bananas when FIFA banned barefoot play in all FIFA matches. India which had played the 1948 Olympics on ten toes never recovered from that embarrassment.

    India, the second most populous nation will return to the World Cup. The Sports Marketing Brands who are the invisible non playing stakeholders of the colorful Tournament, cannot forgo such a massive market.

    The World Cup is not just about Football, nor are the stakeholders of that event limited to national boundaries. Balanced on those skilled feet of the star footballer is a big burden. Aided by a lot of new technologies, his craft is not limited by his playing environment. He has become a global personality, carrying on his shoulders the pride, the prestige and the gratitude of his nation. His performance during the Tournament determines his future, his career and his seeding amongst the other noted playing emperors of the game.

    After the 1994 World Cup in the US, Football over staged all comers to become the battlefield for the Global Brand contention and leadership.

    It was Adi Dassler, the first Adidas Equipment Manager who raised the stakes when as the Equipment Manager of that company he bought and sat in the front seat specifically reserved for the German bench against Hungary in the finals of 1954.

    Dassler was the first Adidas Equipment Manager who sat in the ring side to seize the marketing milieu and write the advertising copies of the World’s greatest event spectacular. Companies hoping that the World Cup Spotlight will also illuminate their own products are eager to ride the crest of publicity that billions of viewers provide. Before the 1998 World Cup, Adidas had managed to sell only 20% of its stock of French Team shirts. By the time France moved on into the semi finals, the shirts couldn’t be bought for love nor for money. Success bought millions. Failure is always relegated to the footnote of history.

    In the Summer of 1998, the World Cup Finals might have been billed as France Vs Brazil, but it was also a match between Adidas Vs Nike. Nike which is an American Sports Promotion giant was like its base not very much into Football. Therefore, in 1994 at the USA World Cup, it sat at the sidelines while Adidas sponsored 10 teams out of the 24 qualifying national teams.

    In the following, 1998 World Cup, Nike jumped into the arena and signed up six national teams, targeting football as the key to unlocking the Sports leisure market outside the US. Then the company doled out over $200 million to sponsor Brazil for ten years. Aggressive marketing saw Nike making deals with European clubs and dozens of other players. That same year, Nike sponsored Ronaldo to wear their shoes at the cost of $1million a year. But the game is a gamble. The results, the goals and the end scores are not mathematics. The trouble with using teams and players as advertising commodities is that it is a gamble. Drogba, the Star Ivorian striker, prominently featured in one of the African top communication Company Television Advertisement, never made it to the finals of the South Africa’s last World Cup. His star-studded national team was knocked out before the finals.

    In 1998, Adidas sponsored France defeated Nike sponsored Brazil and Adidas Star Zinedine Zidane became a national hero by scoring two goals in the final. For Nike it was a nightmare. The scandal surrounding Ronald’s inclusion in the Brazilian team exacerbated the general criticism of Nike’s influence. The lobbying to Zagallo to play an unfit Ronaldo.

    Fortunes in Football can turn a son of Carpenter to an Arabian Prince. While Zidane may never have to buy a drink again, Ronaldo from that World Cup 1998 finals, started losing the limelight. Notwithstanding, the mouth watering $35 million invested in him by inter Milan, Ronaldo’s star as the number one player of the universe was over. The big Brands battle on the side screens played out the result.

    For Nigeria, it is not clear if the Green Eagles have a major sponsor for their Brazilian outing. Who is sponsoring the Super Eagles? The Federal Government, the Senate or the par-ambulating State Governors?

    After memorable appearances since 1994, the Eagles are overdue for a major brand sponsorship. The problem is defining the career category of squad. How can you categorize the Players, the Management and the Federation? Are they Professionals? Amateurs or Shamateurs? If they are Professionals, then Sponsors can deal with their sponsorship without the various governments getting in their way.

  • FIFA ranking: Nigeria now 45th in the world

    FIFA ranking: Nigeria now 45th in the world

    Nigeria has moved two spots up in the FIFA ranking in the month of April to be the 45th in the world.

    In the ranking table on the world governing body’s Website on Thursday, Nigeria has 620 points as against 616 points and 47th position it occupied last month.

    With the latest ranking, Nigeria is now the sixth placed country in Africa as against the seventh position it occupied in March ranking.

    Nigeria displaced Tunisia who went down by nine spots from the sixth position in Africa to the seventh position.

    The first five African countries are Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Algeria, Ghana and Cape Verde who have 830, 798, 795, 713 and 665 points respectively.

    Cote d’Ivoire, which placed first in Africa, is now the 21st, Egypt is the 24th, Algeria maintained the 25th position, Ghana dropped to the 38th and Cape Verde also dropped to the 42nd position in the world.

    On the global stage, there was a change in the first five positions with Portugal, Colombia and Uruguay climbing up by one spot each for Argentina to drop to the sixth position from the third.

    The ranking shows Spain retaining the first position with 1,460 points, followed by Germany, Portugal, Colombia, and Uruguay who have 1,340, 1,245, 1,186 and 1,181 points respectively.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on May 8.

  • 2014 FIFA World Cup: 2.57m tickets allocated to fans

    2014 FIFA World Cup: 2.57m tickets allocated to fans

    A total of 2,577,662 tickets for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil have already been allocated through all sales phases and channels to date.

    A statement by the FIFA Media Office on Tuesday said these tickets included those for the hospitality programme and other constituent groups.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the second period of the second sales phase closed on Tuesday with a total of 301,929 tickets allocated.

    These were from the 345,000 tickets originally available, and they had gone primarily to residents of Brazil, the U.S., Colombia, Australia, Argentina and England, in this order.

    Across all general public sales’ phases, 1,591,435 tickets have been allocated to supporters, with 65 per cent to Brazilians and 35 per cent to international fans.

    Brazil remains the country with the most tickets assigned so far (1,041,418), followed by the U.S. (154,412), Australia (40,681), England (38,043) and Colombia (33,126).

    The statement said 261,988 tickets were sold at a discounted rate in all categories to the Bolsa Familia, as well as the elderly and students.

    The Last Minute Sales phase starts on April 15 via FIFA.com/tickets and runs until the end of the tournament.

    The availability per match is constantly updated in the relevant chart directly on FIFA.com.

    From the beginning of the Last Minute Sales, Brazilian fans will only be able to pay by payment card.

    Visa is the preferred payment method of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, while cash payment will be accepted for over the counter sales, which only start on June 1

  • IHEANACHO REJECTED N103M PAOK DEAL

    IHEANACHO REJECTED N103M PAOK DEAL

    IT HAD earlier been reported that Greece club PAOK Thessaloniki were amongst the teams jostling for the signature of Golden Ball winner at the last FIFA Under-17 World Cup, Kelechi Iheanacho before he committed his future to Manchester City.

    Allnigeriasoccer.com has been specially informed by people familiar with the deal that the Greek vice champions were desperate to land the signature of one of the hottest commodities in last winter’s transfer market and were ready to break their piggy bank.

    To that end, the higher ups at PAOK were prepared to shell out a massive 4.5 million euros to Taye Academy and Kelechi Iheanacho’s entourage.

    The transfer fee would have been paid in two equal installments, fifty percent or 2.25m euros when he appends his signature to a preliminary contract and the other half would be remitted when he clocked 18.

    If representatives of Kelechi Iheancho’s representatives had not rejected the advances of PAOK, the transfer fee would have been the biggest sum paid for a Nigerian player based locally.

    It should be noted that the most expensive transfer fee paid for a Nigerian footballer plying his trade at home is the 1.8 million euros Udinese parted with for the signature of Isaac Success.

  • The price of loyalty

    The price of loyalty

    I got the unfortunate news about mid-day last Wednesday when my phone rang. The person at the other end, a senior Journalist with one of the nation’s frontline newspapers, simply broke the unexpected news to me without much fuss: “The President has removed Bolaji Abdullahi as Minister.” Although that piece of news jolted me, it was not quite unexpected given the current political trend in the country. I managed to ask an incoherent question: “Why will the President do so at this time when the 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament in Brazil is just three months away?”

    The events leading to the Minister’s removal were, to me, some cock and bull stories or what is tantamount to giving the Minister a bad name in order to hang him. However, the case against the former Minister was put in the public domain by many of the newspapers the following day, in different banal headlines. One of the papers wrote on its front page: “The case against Abdullahi…did not identify with PDP’s plan to dislodge APC in Kwara; refusal to speak at PDP’s Ilorin rally; seen in company of Saraki and Goje, who are APC Chiefs; failure to fund PDP’s activities in Kwara State; and late arrival at the Emir’s Palace where Jonathan visited.

    Let us take these accusations one by one. It is alleged that the former Minister did not identify with the ruling party’s plan to dislodge the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Kwara State. Yes, the Minister hails from Kwara State in the North-central geo-political zone of the country. Before his appointment as a minister of the Federal Republic, he was a commissioner in his state. If I am correct, he started as a Special Adviser to the erstwhile Governor of the state, Bukola Saraki, who is now a Senator of the Federal Republic. And it follows that it was Saraki who nominated Abdullahi as Minister.

    Now that the Senator has pitted his political camp with the APC, an opposition party that is pulling all the stunts to seize power from the ruling PDP, it would be absurd for Abdullahi to work against his political godfather. This is enough reason to put him under the prying binoculars of his pay masters. And to think that Abdullahi would fully participate in the antics of the ruling PDP to dislodge the APC from Kwara State would be daydreaming, more so, when the former Minister is adjudged to be apolitical in nature.

    It was, therefore, not surprising that Abdullahi avoided speaking at the Ilorin rally which was held some three days before he was shuffled out of the cabinet. Those who appointed him as a Minister should have known that all the while, he has never played politics with his job. Even those who knew him when he was a Commissioner have attested to that fact. So also is his political godfather, who said the young man was too married to his job than politicking all over the place. It is on record that Abdullahi was one Commissioner who never got himself involved in the revelry and jamboree of going to do ‘break-dancing’ at the airport each time Saraki, his boss at that time, was flying into Ilorin by air during his tenure as governor.

    Now, people expected this type of fellow who has cut out his own unique lifestyle among the multitudes of flotsams and jesters who daily flock around politicians looking for a mess of porridge to feast on to distance himself from the company of those with whom he has found comfort all this while. I mean the accusation that he was seen at innocuous hours in the company of his former boss, Saraki, and Danjuma Goje, the former Governor of Gombe State, who is also a Senator. Apparently, both Saraki and Goje are among the 11 senators who have changed camp from PDP to APC. Are these people now saying that one of the requirements of being a Minister in this country today is that once you are a minister, you do not have the right to choose those to associate with? Therefore, if seeing Saraki and Goje amounts to a crime, then it sounds as ridiculous as it is unthinkable.

    The same people have accused Abdullahi of failing to fund PDP’s activities in his state. If I may ask: Is there any evidence that the former minister was funding or had at any time funded the APC either? This question is necessary because right from the onset, he had been known to be apolitical. If this is so, why should anybody think he should dissipate energy and resources over any political party for that matter? At any rate, where will the money to fund the party come from? Is it from statutory allocations to his ministry, personal emoluments or inflated contracts? It would have been a different story if his accusers had said that he embezzled money that was given to him for onward delivery to the PDP in his state. If that did not happen, then it means that the former minister was expected to deep his hands into the public till to satisfy the financial want of some greedy, gluttonous and godforsaken politicians.

    It was also reported that the former minister was reluctant to attend the jamboree in Ilorin because he had an assignment to do outside the shores of the country but he was prevailed upon to stay behind and attend the President’s campaign visit to Ilorin. Even at that, a mischievous party chieftain who was in the same vehicle with the former minister was said to have quoted the former minister as saying: “If not that I am from this place, I would not have been on this entourage.” That statement means that the former minister had to work against his wish in order to satisfy the wolves that had encircled him and were hunting and hounding him ever since his political godfather jumped ship. It is a pity.

    I had a chance meeting with Bolaji Abdullahi on January 26, 2012, in London. At that time, he was Minister for Youth Development having been appointed a minister in 2011. He was later saddled with the task of supervising the Ministry of Sports before he was appointed substantive Sports Minister in March 2012. The venue of that meeting was at the Heathrow Airport in London. I had spotted him at the check-in queue on arrival at the airport that chilly winter morning. Although we were meeting for the first time, he instantly recognised me.

    As we exchanged banters, I was overwhelmed by his humble disposition. We soon got talking. I told him I was in London for the annual Presidents’ meeting of the EMEA Region (Europe, Middle-East and Africa) of the global Entrepreneurs’ Organisation, EO. He said he was also in London for a series of meetings for the Paralympics games and other games coming up in London that year. He told me about his determination to overhaul the National Youth Service Scheme to make it more relevant to the needs of contemporary Nigeria and other issues bordering on his vision for his ministry. Two months after, he was moved to the Sports Ministry. As we departed that day, the impression he gave me was that of a quiet, unassuming young man. He struck me as a person who knows his onions and could go places if given the opportunity to excel.

    Since that meeting, I have followed his performance and meteoric rise as a public servant and I must confess that he has been wonderful with what he had done as a minister. It is a pity that his zeal to excel has now been scuttled. The wolves may have succeeded in getting Abdullahi, their prime target, out of the way. By doing this, they have unwittingly caused the country a great harm; they have sacrificed merit for sycophancy.

    Above all, Abdullahi’s gargantuan achievements will live after him in the annals of competent administration and good governance in the country. No wonder, his achievements are already reverberating in the public domain and will remain permanently etched in national consciousness for a long time to come. He has done well for journalism, his profession and his generation.

     

  • NIGERIA UNVEILS FINAL SQUAD

    NIGERIA UNVEILS FINAL SQUAD

    HEAD coach of the Nigeria women U-17 national team, Bala Nikyu has released a list of 21 players for the FIFA U-17 women World Cup in Costa Rica which holds from March 15 to April 4. Nigeria qualified for the finals of the U-17 competition without kicking the ball after opponents, South Sudan pulled out of the two-legged qualifiers.

    In the list of 21 submitted to FIFA, 7 of the players who campaigned in the last edition were included with 14 new debutants in the tournament where Nigeria has never gone beyond the quarter-finals in four appearances so far.

    The entire defence line of the team were picked from last edition team namely, Mary Ologbosere, Patience Dike, Ugochi Emenayo, Esther Elijah, Faith Alex and Joy Duru.

    Expectedly, red-hot striker Chiwendu Ihezuo who finished second highest goal scorer with six goals alongside six others that were involved in the last edition in Azerbaijan alongside 14 new faces made the final 21-player list for the tournament.

    Four players – strikers Agams Nkechinyere and Ikeh Ginika, defender Chika Edeh and goalkeeper Sandra Aernyi of the 25 in training camp with the Flamingoes in Faro, Portugal have been dropped.

    The Flamingoes who will be competing with 15 other countries have been drawn against Colombia, Mexico and China PR in Group D.

    Ghana and Zambia are the other African representatives at the 4th FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup.

    The Flamingoes will hope to become the first African team to reach the semi-finals after four appearances at the women cadet championship.

    Nigeria’s Squad

    Goalkeepers – 1 Mercy VINCENT (Confluence Queens FC), 16 Fubiana BRIGGS (Pelican Stars FC), 21 Onyinyechukwu OKEKE (Inneh Queens)

    Defenders – 2 Mary OLOGBOSERE (Ibom Angels FC), 3 Patience DIKE (C.O.D United FC), 5 Ugochi EMENAYO (Nasarawa Amazons FC), 6 Esther ELIJAH (Osun Babes), 11 Faith ALEX (Pelican Stars), 12 Joy DURU (Nasarawa Amazons) ,13 Ayomide ANIBABA (Robo FC), 17 Augustar MENE (Nasarawa Amazons FC)

    Midfielders – 4 Ihuoma ONYEBUCHI (Rivers Angels FC), 8 Joy BOKIRI (Bayelsa Queens FC), 9 Aminat YAKUBU (Rivers Angels), 10 Tessy BIAHWO (Delta Queens FC), 20 Eluemunor IJEH (Delta Queens FC) Forwards – 7 Vivian IKECHUKWU (Real Dinamo FC), 14 Rasheedat AJIBADE (Robo FC), 15 Uchenna KANU (Pelican Stars FC), 18 Cynthia AKU (Rivers Angels), 19 Chinwendu IHEZUO (Pelican Stars)

  • EAGLES TO PLAY SCOTLAND MAY 28

    EAGLES TO PLAY SCOTLAND MAY 28

    NIGERIA’S Super Eagles will go up against the Dark Blues of Scotland in an international friendly at Fulham’s Craven Cottage in London on May 28. The announcement of the international match was made this week by the Scottish Football Association (SFA).

    For the Nigerians, the match will serve as part of their preparation for the FIFA World Cup in Brazil billed to kick off this June.

    “It is good to hear that we will play against Scotland. Surely it’s going to be a good test for the boys just few days to the World Cup and I believe by then we would have a clear picture of our squad to the World Cup,” Nigeria head coach, Stephen Keshi, told supersport.com.

    Scotland manager, Gordon Strachan, has said the match against Nigeria “appealed most” after considering other options for same date. The Scottish national team will use the match as rehearsal for the Euro 2016 qualifiers.

    “We considered a lot of options but the chance to play Nigeria, a country who will be going to the World Cup this summer, in London without the need for long-haul travel was the one that appealed most. We will have time for some quality training sessions before the game and we will look to finish the season with a positive performance and result that we can take forward as we finalise preparations for the Euro 2016 qualifiers.

    “I was encouraged yet again by a lot of what I saw in Warsaw and the players are now protective of the performances and results they have put together recently. We will look to continue that against Nigeria,” Strachan told the Scottish FA official website.

    Scotland are currently unbeaten in five international matches under Strachan but the Dark Blues will come up against the African champions, who defeated them 2-1 in Pittodrie the last time both sides squared up in 2002 before the World Cup in South Korea and Japan.