The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Spain

  • Keshi: My Eagles can shock Spain

    Keshi: My Eagles can shock Spain

    DESPITE being branded the underdogs ahead of their clash against world champions, Spain, Nigeria’s head coach, Stephen Keshi, still believes “anything can happen.”

    Keshi, 51, still fancies his team’s chance of creating an upset in a contest some analysts have branded mission improbable and others have termed impossible.

    “Anything can happen in football, even beating Spain, and that depends on how determined and motivated my team will be during the game,” said Keshi.

    The former Mali and Togo manager has refused to draw comparisons between the Spaniard 1998 team which lost 2-3 to Nigeria in a FIFA World Cup game in France and their present squad.

    Keshi did not mince words in warning that in footballing terms so much has changed between both nations in the last 15 years since Nigeria stunned Spain at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

    “It was another level of football in 1998 and this is different. But anything can still happen,” said the Nigeria manager.

    Nigeria will ride on Lady-luck on Sunday inside the Estadio Castelao in Fortaleza to stun the tiki-taka-playing Spanish national team and hope that Uruguay does not beat Tahiti by more than five goals.

    The Super Eagles still occupy second spot in Group B of the FIFA Confederations Cup behind Spain despite a 1-2 loss to the South American champions, Uruguay, on Thursday.

  • Eagles, Spain game sold out

    Eagles, Spain game sold out

    TODAY’S Confederation Cup group game between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and Spain has been sold out totally according to the FIFA Coordinator for Fortaleza, Marc Andreas Harold.

    “As we speak over 50,000 tickets have already been soldfor the 55,000 capacity stadium and people are still requesting for more. In fact the tickets have become very scarce and I think it’s because of the quality of the two teams”, he said moments after Super Eagles boss Stephen Keshi and Skipper Vincent Enyeama addressed the world press ahead of the game.

    Harold said he expects a very tight game that is almost impossible to predict and wished Nigeria well against the double champions. “You have no reason to lose the last game but it happened now there is an opportunity to correct that and I know that Spain too will be looking for victory. It’s going to be very tight for the two teams”, he said.

  • Eagles, Spain clash hold 8.00pm Nigerian time

    Nigeria’s Super Eagles will clash with Spain’s La Roja in the final game of the ongoing FIFA Confederations Cup at the Estadio Castillo in Fortaleza, Brazil by 4.00pm local time (8.00pm Nigerian time).

    The encounter in theory still have everything to play for as both sides could still qualify for the semis and both could still make an early exit. However, in reality, it is going to be an herculean task for the Stephen Keshi tutored side to qualify despite occupying second spot in the group log.

    Spain on the other hand need a point while the Eagles need to win and pray that South American champions, Uruguay don’t beat Tahiti by a significant margin.

    Interestingly, the last meeting for both sides was in the France 1998 World Cup. Fernando Heirro and Raul had twice given Spain the lead, but goals from Mutiu Adepoju, Garuba Lawal and Sunday Oliseh helped Nigeria to a 3-2 win over the current world and European champions.

    Meanwhile, the Eagles who arrived Fortaleza yesterday are expected to have a feel of the Estadio Castelao, venue of the all important Sunday cracker later today.

    A top official of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) told SportingLife that despite the loss to Uruguay  the boys are rearing to go.

    “I want Nigerians not to lose faith with the boys as they have promised to give Spain a good match on Sunday,” he assured.

  • Nigerians drowned en route Spain – Bianca Ojukwu

    Nigerians drowned en route Spain – Bianca Ojukwu

    Nigeria’s ambassador to Spain, Bianca Ojukwu, has decried the increasing number of Nigerians who got drowned trying to cross the ocean to Spain for greener pastures.

    Ojukwu said this on Wednesday at a colloquium on ”The State of the Nation: The Way Forward,’’ organised by the Campaign for Democracy, South-East region, in Onitsha, Anambra.

    She expressed regrets that many Nigerians, especially from the South-East, struggled to enter the European nation but had no understanding that it was not better off than Nigeria.

    “As an ambassador to Spain you come face to face with the trouble people are going through.

    “I am sad that because things are not going on well in Nigeria the way they should people now board ships to Spain and on their way get drowned,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the envoy at the forum..

    Ojukwu, however, urged both the Federal and state governments to create the enabling environment to help curtail the rush to travel abroad.

    On the bilateral relationship between Nigeria and Spain, she said it was very cordial.

    “Nigeria has signed a lot of Memoranda of Understanding with Spain on various areas, which included cultural cooperation, education, transportation and infrastructure,” she stated.

     

  • 65 Nigerians deported from Europe

    About Sixty-five Nigerians were on Friday deported from Europe, an official of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN)  has disclosed.

    The FAAN official who declined  to be named disclosed that the Nigerians were brought home aboard a chartered flight which landed at  Murtala Muhammed International Airport Cargo section in Lagos.
    He explained that   they  were deported from Spain, Bulgaria, Romania and the United Kingdom.
    It was learnt that they were brought back home for immigration and related offences.
    The source said that the deportees  arrived the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos  about 7:40 a.m. They were 48 males, 12 females and five children.
    Some of the deportees were  alleged to to possess   invalid travel  documents  while eight  including three females were deported for alleged criminal offences.
    The eight persons were reportedly  immediately arrested on arrival by policemen and taken to the Criminal Investigation Department, Nigeria Police  Ikoyi, Lagos, in a Toyota pick-up with registration number “Ontario AZKC-549”.