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| African Champs 2013, Super Eagles of Nigeria |
African champions Nigeria flew into Sao Paulo just before midnight on
Saturday – the last team to arrive at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup
tournament in Brazil.
Earlier scheduled to arrive on
Thursday, the Super Eagles are
forty-eight hours late after a stand-off with Nigeria football
authorities on bonuses payable, despite a mutual understanding with
the team’s Management on a 50 per cent cut.
A miffed but concerned NFF had promptly contacted Sports Minister,
Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi when players and officials refused to leave
their Country Club Resort Windhoek for a scheduled flight from Namibia
to Johannesburg on Thursday, thus missing their connection to Sao
Paulo from South Africa.
The Sports Minister immediately contacted the Presidency, and despite
his pledge to personally bring the balance of the money to Brazil,
Coach Stephen Keshi insisted his players would only leave Namibia if
the money arrived in the southern African nation.
On Saturday, a first batch from Windhoek to Johannesburg inexplicably
missed their flight, but Team Administrator Enebi Achor, who was in
the second batch, worked hard to ensure that batch eventually arrived
in Johannesburg early enough to retain seats on the connecting flight.
“We are all on the same flight. Everything’s sorted out now,” Achor
said on telephone from Johannesburg.
The delegation flew aboard a South African Airways flight SA 224,
Airbus 340-600 from Johannesburg to Sao Paulo, and were expected to
connect another flight to Belo Horizonte that would touch down in that
city at 4am Sunday, June 16.
On board were 22 players and 10 officials, with midfielder Ogenyi
Onazi having sustained a knee injury in the 2014 FIFA World Cup
qualifier against Namibia in Windhoek on Wednesday.
Officials said on Saturday, before the team left Johannesburg, that
Onazi who was in the team that triumphed at the Africa Cup of Nations
in South Africa earlier in the year and won the Copa Italia with SS
Lazio last month, was still being expected to join the squad in South
America.
However, defender Kunle Odunlami and midfielder Obinna Nwachukwu,
dropped from the team, flew back to Nigeria on Friday. Onazi was on
the same flight. The players were led by special assistant to NFF
President, Tunde Aderibigbe.
Nigeria play Tahiti, champions of Oceania at the Estadio Mineirao in
Belo Horizonte starting from 4pm Brazil time on Monday, which is 8pm
Nigeria time.
The Nigeria Football Federation has informed the Embassy of Nigeria in
Brazil about the team’s arrival, and pleaded for extension of usual
courtesies, even as the team would be taken over by the Local
Organizing Committee of the FIFA Confederations Cup on arrival in Sao
Paulo.
It is a 75-minute flight from Sao Paulo to Belo Horizonte – about the
same time it will take the team to drive from the airport to their
Caesar’s Business Hotel in the city.
Coach Keshi said on Saturday that the team would have an official
training session on Sunday – hours after their arrival.
After Monday’s clash with the Oceanians, the Eagles train moves to
Salvador, where they clash with South American champions Uruguay at
the Arena Fonte Nova at 7pm Brazil time (11pm Nigeria time) on
Thursday, 20th June.
On Sunday, 23rd June, the African champions take the pitch at the
Estadio Castelao against world and European champions Spain – one of
the most anticipated games of the group phase. That match starts at
4pm Brazil time (8pm Nigeria time).
Hosts Brazil, five-time world champions, head Group A that also has
four-time world champions Italy, Mexico and Japan.
The final match will come up at Estadio do Maracana in Rio de Janeiro
on Sunday, June 30.
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