The Nation Newspaper

Tag: nff

  • WCQ: Maigari, Babangida charge Eagles to defeat Kenya

    WCQ: Maigari, Babangida charge Eagles to defeat Kenya

    Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president Aminu Maigari, has charged the Super Eagles to go for victory against Kenya on Wednesday.

    Maigari told MTNfootball.com, “I have no doubt that the Super Eagles will do us proud in this World Cup qualifier.

    “We all know what the three points in this game would do for the team. It’s a World Cup qualifier and we must pick vital away points to stay in control of our group. One of such important three points is the one from this game.

    “We have done everything to prepare the team. We have moved two steps ahead of the Kenyans to guard against any form of antics. So, we just pray that with luck on the side of the Eagles, they put the icing on the cake.”

    Former Nigeria international Tijjani Babangida also said the Eagles have all it takes to beat Kenya in Nairobi.

    “Eagles have all it takes to beat Kenya, but they must be prepared for war because the first leg result is a big morale booster to the Kenyans,” he said

    “The Eagles must play this game with all they have to win because it could decide if we will be in last round of World Cup qualifiers.”

    He also said he believes the Mexico friendly has toughened Eagles ahead of Wednesday’s clash.

    “The friendly against Mexico was good for the Eagles as it put them in match frame and gave them a chance to understand themselves more ahead of the clash. The boys and the coaches know what is at stake and I believe in them,” he said.

     

     

  • WCQ: NFF defends Eagles travel plans

    WCQ: NFF defends Eagles travel plans

    The Nigeria Football Federation has defended the travel plans for the Super Eagles to Kenya ahead of Wednesday’s 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier against the Harambee Stars.

    Supersport.com reports that the Nigerian contingent will only arrive in Nairobi on Tuesday following long flights from Houston to Nairobi via Frankfurt and Addis Ababa.

    Coach of the Super Eagles, Stephen Keshi has since come down hard on the federation’s travel plans for the team insisting that it would be impossible for him to conduct any training session before Wednesday’s game.

    The NFF, through executive committee member, Barr. Chris Green, has now taken the time to explain the contingent’s itinerary.

    “A lot of people do not have the facts. Misinformation is a very bad thing. What we (the NFF) did was painstakingly planned. The weather conditions in Kenya make it impossible for non-locals to acclimatise until after five days.

    “Even if the team had flown straight to Nairobi from Houston (where Nigeria played a friendly against Mexico on Saturday), it would have given the boys just three days to acclimatise and that would not have been enough.

    “That would have been disastrous and we never wanted that to happen” Green said to Supersport.com on Monday.

    The NFF chief then added that the federation drew from a precedent set by the South Africa Football Association (SAFA) for a recent international against Ethiopia.

    “We studied carefully what SAFA did just before they played against Ethiopia, a country which has similar weather conditions as Kenya.

    “SAFA made it such that the Bafana Bafana team arrived in Addis Ababa on the day of the match and also left immediately after the match.

    “Getting to Kenya just before the game will act in our favour as we would not have to battle to acclimatise with the weather conditions.

    “It is more expensive to embark on the arrangement we currently have on ground. We will incur more costs and expend more on logistics spending days in Germany and Ethiopia but we have vowed to spare to no cost as a federation to see that Nigeria’s flag is hoisted at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil,” he said.

    Green then spoke about the gaffer’s constraints on not having adequate time to train with his wards before the game on Wednesday.

    “Keshi is a master of the mind games. He’s not an AFCON-winning coach for nothing.”

     

  • Mexico friendly was strategic – NFF

    Mexico friendly was strategic – NFF

    The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has moved to explain the timing of Saturday’s international friendly between Nigeria and Mexico.

    The Super Eagles and Mexico’s El Tri served off a 2-2 free-for-all at the Reliant Stadium in Houston with Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez cancelling out strikes by Brown Ideye and John Ogu.

    The NFF has now explained why the game was played with just days to Nigeria’s crucial 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying game against Kenya in Nairobi.

    Executive committee member and technical committee chairman of the body, Barrister Christopher Green said it was important the game against Mexico was played at the time it was.

    “You will not leave anybody in doubt about our (NFF) preparations for competitive matches. Now we have played against Mexico; a tune-up game that will help the coach instill his philosophies as well as try new formations with the players ahead of the upcoming qualifying games against Kenya and Namibia,” Green told supersport.com.

    The NFF chief said “mistakes were made” before the reverse fixture against the Harambee Stars stressing that Saturday’s game against El Tri would prevent such recurring during the return.

    “It was obvious that several mistakes were made before that 1-1 draw against Kenya in Calabar and we wanted to ensure this does not happen in future.

    “You also know that the Super Eagles have not played any competitive match since that game against the Kenyans about three months ago so it is only proper that the boys integrate before they go straight into such a crucial qualifier against the Kenyans,” he said.

    Nigeria’s Super Eagles will face the Harambee Stars in Nairobi on June 5 before proceeding to Windhoek to confront Namibia on June 12 in another World Cup qualifier.

    The African champions will then round off a busy month’s programme in Brazil during the FIFA Confederations Cup.

    The Super Eagles currently lead Group F of Africa zone for the 2014 Fifa World Cup qualifying on five points from three matches.

  • NFF vows to return Federation Cup’s glamour

    NFF vows to return Federation Cup’s glamour

    The Nigeria Football Federation has vowed to return the glamour of the Federation Cup in Nigeria. Speaking in Abuja on Thursday, the Director of Competitions in the NFF, Sanusi Mohammed said the Federation cup still remains the most glamorous in country and that the body is doing everything possible to return the competition’s glamour.

    The Director, who spoke at the National draws of the competition which is expected to begin in the second week of June, said the NFF is fully committed to moving Nigeria Football forward.

    He maintained that Ranchers Bees of Kaduna would not be allowed to participate in the competition if the management of the club fails to pay the outstanding fine imposed on the team before the commencement of the competition.

    “The Kaduna State FA had to stand in for Ranchers Bees before the draws, and made an undertaking on behalf of the team, saying that they should be held responsible if the team fails to pay up before the kick-off date, “he said.

     

  • Eagles, Adidas XI match off

    Eagles, Adidas XI match off

    Inclement weather in Nuremberg, Germany, on Monday forced the handlers of the senior national team, Super Eagles to call off the much publicized friendly match with the Adidas XI.

    According to the Head Coach of the team Stephen Keshi, the match had to be called off in order not to endanger the boys.

    This, he said would not affect their programmes which has also been hampered by the chilling weather in the European country.

    The “Big boss” said the players would train on Monday afternoon before jetting out to Houston, United States, on Tuesday to round training for Friday’s friendly match against Mexico.

     

  • Sharks, Go Round to replay Monday

    Sharks, Go Round to replay Monday

    Based on the instruction from the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) the Rivers State Football Association has established that the semi-final match between Sharks Football Club of Port Harcourt and Go Round Fc of Omoku will be replayed on Monday.

    The NFF based on the petition it received from referees and clubs in Rivers state had ordered that the Rivers FA should play all outstanding matches within four days of the reception of the notice from the federation.

    The Rivers FA on reception of the letter called a stakeholders’ meeting involving the teams and the press in order to identify the outstanding matches. After deliberations, the games from the knock out stages to the quarter-finals were identified to have run smoothly without any hitches and complains or protests from any of the parties involved.

    In the same vein, the first semi-final encounter between Dolphins and Eleme Utd was also cleared as the Eleme team confirmed that they were convincingly won by Dolphins; whereas the encounter between Sharks and Go Round fc was identified as the bone of contention in which an ‘unidentified’ fan was said to have disrupted the game as at the time when Go Round was leading Sharks by two goals to one with as much as six minutes left to go and it was unanimously agreed that it be replayed on Monday by 3.00pm at the Liberation stadium venue of the FA cup tournament.

    Though the Sharks team had an argument that after playing Heartland today, the team may not be available for the replay on Monday. However, they were made to understand that failure to appear will lead to a walkover against them in the favour of Go Round Fc.

    It was also agreed that all things been equal, the finals of the state competition will be played on Wednesday for a state winner to emerge.

  • NFF makes u-turn on Sharks, Dolphins expulsion

    The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has made a dramatic u-turn on its resolution of the preliminary stages of the 2013 Rivers State Federation Cup.

    The NFF had on Wednesday ruled that no teams from Rivers State would be accommodated in the draws of the Federation Cup as “the 2013 preliminary matches of the Federation Cup (in Rivers State) were officiated by unqualified/registered referees.”

    A release signed by Mohammed Sanusi, Director of competitions NFF organising committee further stated that “no preliminary matches were played in the state in accordance with the rules and regulations governing the competition.”

    The NFF then made it clear that the two representatives from Rivers State, Sharks and Dolphins would be barred from competing in the 2013 Federation Cup.

    However, the Rivers State Football Association, following a hastily launched appeal, earned a reprieve on Thursday after an emergency meeting of the executive committee of the NFF in Abuja.

    The NFF ruled in the meeting that matches in the 2013 Rivers State Federation Cup be replayed from the semifinal stages with the finalists expected to be accommodated in the draws of the 2013 Federation Cup.

    A fine of N500,000 (about $3,164 USD) be paid by the Rivers FA before the round of 64 stages of the competition.

    An executive committee member of the federation who revealed this to supersport.com explained that the executive committee reached the decision “following exhaustive deliberations on the issue.”

    “It was a very serious situation but following exhaustive deliberations on the issue, it was decided that the resolutions reached were for the best,” he said.

    Sharks will now meet Go Round FC in the first semifinal while Dolphins will face Eleme United in the second semifinal match of the Rivers State Federation Cup.

  • Eagles face adidas XI Monday

    Eagles face adidas XI Monday

    The Super Eagles will face an adidas XI in a test game in Germany before flying out to United States for a friendly against Mexico on May 31.

    Nigeria Football Federation marketing director, Idris Adama, also told MTNFootball.com Eagles kits sponsors adidas has delivered 2013 adidas boots and the FIFA Confederations Cup officials match balls to the team.

    “Adidas has confirmed to us that the Eagles will be the first team in the world to get delivery of the new balls which has been designed for the Confederations Cup in Brazil,” announced Adama.

    “The boys would equally be the first to test the 2013 adidas ball when they take on Adidas XI on May 27 at the Adidas facility in Germany.”

    Meanwhile, the number of players in the Super Eagles training camp in Germany has swelled to 17 following the arrival of more players to the Novina Hotel camp late on Wednesday.

    The latest set of arrivals includes Germany-based striker Joseph Akpala and Ukraine-based forward Babatunde Michael.

    Also in is Portugal-based midfielder John Ogu.

    Defenders Kenneth Omeruo and Elderson Echiejile as well as Italy-based Nnamdi Oduamadi are expected in camp on Thursday morning.

     

  • FIFA Cup: No extra incentive for Super Eagles – Amadu

    FIFA Cup: No extra incentive for Super Eagles – Amadu

    NFF scribe Musa Amadu has said that no further incentive would be given to the Super Eagles players at the forth coming FIFA Confederation Cup holding in Brazil in June.
    Amadu said that the players and their officials would receive only their normal winning bonus of $5,000. “It is a service to our fatherland, no extra incentive would be given to them. They are at the tournament to make a mark, and that is what all Nigerians expect from them. If God’s willing they win the tournament, Nigerians would surely reward them adequately. It is a call to duty” he said told Nationsports.
    The FIFA Confederation Cup will begin on 15th June, with the Super Eagles playing their first match against Tahiti on 17th June. The African Champions will take on their South American counterpart Uruguay on 20th June, while their last match would be against World and European Champions Spain on 23rd June.
    Two teams are expected to qualify from each group for the semi finals. When Nigeria last participated in tournament in 1995, they finished fourth, losing the third place match to Mexico on penalties.
  • No stress on Sidney Sam’s Germany choice – NFF

    No stress on Sidney Sam’s Germany choice – NFF

    Keshi says Sam was keen on playing for Nigeria

    Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) sources have told SportingLife that the decision of Bayer Leverkusen midfielder, Sidney Sam to play for Germany, his place of birth, has been taken in good faith by the Nigeria football house.

    A top official at the Glass House said there was no cause for alarm over Sam’s choice of playing for Germany after he was named in the team of Germany coach, Joachin Loew for the games against Ecuador and the United States.

    But the NFF top official disclosed that “the Nigeria Football Federation has done its best to get Sidney Sam to play for the Super Eagles and we have commenced the processing and at a vantage and conclusive stage when this (his invitation to play for Germany) new development happened.

    “We don’t have to waste time by dwelling much on this issue since the player has the choice for his preferred country and since he has chosen Germany let it be. The Super Eagles also has a lot of talented players that are doing well in their clubs and we even have some playing prominently and winning laurels for their clubs like the Mikel Obi and Victor Moses in Chelsea. So no cause for alarm.”

    But the Chief Coach of the Super Eagles, Stephen Keshi said the last time he spoke with the player he told him he wanted to play for the Super Eagles.

    “ The last time I spoke with him he was very keen to play for the Super Eagles and I am sure the Nigeria Football Federation President Alhaji Aminu Maigari is keen on getting him to play for Nigeria,” Keshi told SportingLife before departure for Germany for Eagles camping.