Eagles matches confirmed for Calabar
By Anonymous - Friday, 11 May 2012
The Nigeria Football Federation has finally confirmed the U.J. Esuene Stadium in Calabar as venue for next month’s 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches involving the Super Eagles.
The decision to play in Calabar follows the meeting between the NFF President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari, and the Director General of the National Sports Commission, Dr Patrick Ekeji. The venue will host the matches against Namibia and Rwanda respectively.
“The venue issue is now settled. We looked at all the options available to us and we decided Calabar is the best choice for now.
Although work has started on the pitch of the National Stadium, Abuja, it will not be ready to host the match, especially with FIFA asking us to confirm a venue by Friday,” Maigari said.
The search for the venue for the Eagles became extra
ordinary due to the twin factors of bad pitch and security problems as a
result of bombings in the northern part of the country. The poorly
managed National Stadium in Abuja now has a bad playing pitch. The
Kaduna venue, which would have served as the alternative venue, was
ruled out due security worries despite the behind-the-scenes political
manoeuvrings to have the match played at the venue. The NFF had to
jettison that idea when it became clear that the Eagles themselves, fans
and the visiting countries were not going to accept that venue.
Nigeria will take on Namibia for the FIFA World Cup
qualifying race on June 3 before flying to Blantyre the following
weekend to face the Flames of Malawi. The Eagles will return to Nigeria
to clash with the Amavubi of Rwanda in the return leg of a 2013 African
Cup of Nations qualifying fixture on June 17.
As the Eagles prepare with the friendly match against
Peru, the Namibians will train in Germany and play a warm-up game
against Mozambique as they prepare hard for the game against Nigeria.
Namibia, led by German technical director, Klaus Stark, will set up a
training camp in Kaiserau, Germany, from May 21.
During their 10-day stint in Germany, they will test
their readiness with warm-up games with Mozambique as well as German
lower league sides. The Brave warriors have called up 23 players mostly
drawn from the country’s league as well as from neighbouring South
Africa.
Follow our blog on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook. Stay updated via RSS
0 comments for "Eagles matches confirmed for Calabar"