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Eagles' France friendly under threat

Eagles' France friendly under threat

Posted: 2009-05-15 14:14

Next month's international friendly between the Super Eagles and France is being threatened by the French Embassy in Lagos.

Nigeria coach Shuaibu Amodu and his assistants were at the embassy on Thursday, but were told that it would be difficult to issue them visas in time for the game on June 3.
 
There is a two-week waiting period for Schengen visas and NFF spokesman Demola Olajire told KickOffNigeria.com that the officials were told at the embassy that it was 'arrogant' of the Nigerians to apply for the visas in such a tight time frame.
 
"They told our head coach and others that we Nigerians were so arrogant that we expect to walk in and get visas, and that it normally takes them about two months to get a Nigerian visa," he said.
 
As at Monday afternoon, NFF protocol officials were still at the French embassy, with representations having been made to both the Nigerian Foreign Ministry and the French Football Federation to find some means of cutting through the red tape.

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Birikiti: 2009-05-15 14:38

Oya where is Auntie Dora & her rebranding team! Chei, French officials see us as arrogant???
NFF sef! Why did they wait till this last minute before applying? I'm sure they will say Amodu just returned from Europe. Well if he has German Schengen visa (reports said he saw Ogbuke in Germany) won't that suffice for France?

Many questions begging for answers jo!

val: 2009-05-15 14:47

Yes, arrogant approach by the NFF and the coaching crew to apply for French visas at such a time, but a better approach in getting all needed for the trip to Londond against Ireland, Jamaica, Columbia, Austria, Switzerland????
Forumites!!! did i not said this?? i reminded us that the French match would not hold because NFF and the coaching only play matches they "think" they can win!!
check my post under the caption " CONFUSION OVER ARGENTINE FREINDLY"

Ayomide: 2009-05-15 14:57

Is everywhere they know that we Nigerians we are arrogant, but is not good name for us, particularly we are giant of Africa.

jazzy: 2009-05-15 15:06

@val. u really got that one right. no future foresight aka nff said they've chosen to sink with amodu(or swim) so they'll do anythin to avoid an unveiling of the technical ineptitude of tehir choiced mallam amodu!

but i still think they'll play that match because any wayo thing will be too obvious!

James: 2009-05-15 15:19

hahaha. NFF are full of pranks. I tot all of the eagles tech crew have shengen visa. How come they dont have? So amodu just have only UK visa stamped on his passport? They shouldnt think we are fools. They should tell this story to the birds. Ok, the news reported sometime last week that amodu& co was in germany to meet ogbuke, how did they get to germany? did they break immigration law to get there? or maybe they used brithish visa to get into germany. The nff tech crew knows that french team will disgrace us in the friendly so they decide to take this path to excuse us from the friendly inorder to retain amodu as SE coach. Amodu& co should throw in the towel. We cant kip blaiming the nff. I will also put the blame on amodu cos this isnt the first time he is applying for a visa& the rules are part & parcel of him so why didnt he apply 2months earlier? Billion pls tell amodu he should quit cos we knw u are his PA

mbanzai: 2009-05-15 17:02

Val, I do remember your post alright. Back then I felt you were spot-on. It is just a lame excuse to avoid the game. Like you said, a hammering from France would expose Amodu's deficiencies, so we would rather play weaker oppositions to disguise our handicaps.
However, giving the present team setup, they may just get a bitter surprise by getting thrashed by Ireland.

lakeside: 2009-05-15 18:21

There is no need trying to collect visas because i dont think the match will hold because i live in france and there is nothing like that in the calender of the FFF.Maybe the eagles will paly against Guingamp and not the french Natinal team.

sam: 2009-05-15 19:11

guys its true ohoo! i just checked fifa calenda and france calenda and there is nothing like nigeria vs france,i only saw nigeria vs ireland on fifa calenda...if anyone doubts just check it yourself,this guys are not telling the truth...but who are dey trying to deceive...

James: 2009-05-15 19:18

@lakeside, thanx 4 ur wonderful update. lets keep exposing the flux of nff& the SE technical crew

oscar : 2009-05-15 19:29

But guys, the match against France is too close to our world cup qualifier against Kenya. I think that match should rather not hold than some players being injured or fatigue setting in agasint Kenya.

The match against Kenya is very important and might determine our progress in the competition, let the players have adequate rest before the match.

chiefo: 2009-05-15 19:34

Stories lik dis r indicativ of d general unsincerety n incompetence dat marrs various spheres of our lives. D nff isnt transparent enof 4 adequate public involvmnt n scrutiny. Iv bn issued a british n schegen visas b4(d schegen tru belgian embassy lagos)on some educatonal touring n grounds n a symposium in lille,france 2 b precise. Dis was issued at very short notice of bout 2weeks due 2 d bodies invlovd. So hw mch more a Fifa compliant,grade A, international friendly of dis magnitude? Whos gt dis difficulty? Obviously nt Amodu or Amokachi, cld it b Kanu, Odemwingie, Martins, Yobo or Taiwo, excpt 4 mayb d few new intakes. Majority of d selectd professionals hv gt a bit of immunity of movement as holders of "right 2 remian" in dia various bases. I stand 2 b correctd but dis is complete rubbish 4 those who undastnd d angle im coming 4rm. Also, if its true dat "arrogance" n "2weeks allowd time" is an excuse cn supercede FIFAs world acclaimd friendly, then Gracious Shame on d French authorities, includin FIFA as a body.

Emeka: 2009-05-15 19:53

How can Nigerians think that we are giants of African Football when we have only won 2 Nations Cups and 2 CAF Champions League winners trophies in our history?

I was just wondering.....?

Olatunbosun: 2009-05-15 19:56

The match is on France Football federation callender. Check out these links;
http://visu-v2.fff.fr/bleus/calebleu/67.shtml
Mardi 2 juin 2009
Match amical au Stade Geoffroy-Guichard de Saint-Etienne
France-Nigeria

and espnsoccernet callender;
http://soccernet-assets.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=all&date=20090602&cc=3888

It is billed for 2nd as against 3rd that was written by KON. However, I am not a supporter of NFF and the current technical crew and do see their claim as laughable. Even for personal travelling, I arrange my Visa well before 2weeks. They should not give us this story. NFF and the technical crew should tidy up if they want to achieve any slim chance of qualification or they sink together. Enough of this pathetic approach on and off the pitch.

Sims: 2009-05-15 20:01

Super Eagles Europe Friendlies with France and Ireland does not make any sense. It will not help the players in any way but just a waste of Nigeria oil money. This NFF officials always look for avenues to waste Nigeria oil money.

Super Eagles players will benefit more by playing against North and East African national teams before their main world cup qualifying games. Playing West African teams is better for the Super Eagles than European teams at this time.

mbanzai: 2009-05-15 23:51

Sam, you are correct. I have just been to the FIFA website with all the scheduled games for Nigeria, and the friendly against France is conspicuously missing.

For any doubters, check the link:

http://www.fifa.com/associations/association=nga/fixturesresults/gender=m/index.html

Billion: 2009-05-15 23:52

@James, must u mention my name while making ur comments? Pls, let's learn to respect other people's opinion...it pays when AMODU STAYS at least after the next two matches!!

mbanzai: 2009-05-15 23:54

If we are really avoiding France because it may be too close to a more important game, well that's fair enough. If however it is just a ploy to avoid a humiliation that would further expose Amodu, then Ireland may just give Amodu a nasty surprise.

mbanzai: 2009-05-15 23:58

Billion, can I ask you a question? When you say Amodu stays till the next two matches, are you referring to the proposed friendlies (of which the France game may be already off), or do you mean the qualifiers?
Just give me a simple answer please.

The word.: 2009-05-16 02:47

Billion said any next two matches.I pray any one did not fall inside the qualifying matches.I still not understand why anyone could want Amodu to stay till after next two games. Amodu and NFF should know people are not fool. If they are not going to play FFF why applying For the visa? This is not going to be the first time friendlie will be schdule and it will be cancelled by either party. They should just tell us the truth,instead of lying to 140 million people.

big bang : 2009-05-16 03:01

Nothing new with the NFF, how can they apply for visas in such a short period of time, didn't they know they had a match with France well in advance.
Well nothing new, same old NFF.

jp world: 2009-05-16 10:42

This information is untrue, even if there is such comments,
they knew it must have come from a gate man in the embassy,
or any embassy rat.. and this is not a problem to stop the match from going on,
you guys calling for amodu to step down, can you give me a name to replace amodu

val: 2009-05-18 10:22

Monday, May 18, 2009

Eneramo vows to turn down Eagles' call-up

HIGHEST goal scorer in the Tunisian League, Nigeria's Michael Eneramo, has vowed not to honour any call by Super Eagles' coach, Amodu Shaibu, owing to what he called the insensitive attitude of the technical crew.
Speaking with a local website, the Esperance striker, who netted 18 goals in the just concluded league to help his side lift the trophy, recalled how he only featured for five minutes in the international friendly against Jamaica early this year in London. The striker, who shunned all entreaties from the Tunisian Football Federation to play for the Carthage Eagles, said he was disappointed with the way he was treated after committing his future to Nigeria.
The Lobi Stars of Makurdi former striker alleged that his five minutes on the pitch against the Reggae Boyz was targeted at destroying any prospect of him playing for Tunisia if he so desired. Eneramo's suspicion was further heightened when he was excluded from the 29-man Eagles list drafted for the friendlies against Ireland, France and the World Cup qualifier against the Harambee Stars of Kenya.
"I don't think I'm interested in playing for Nigeria again," he said. "I don't like what they (technical crew) did to me. They invited me to play against Jamaica, I only played the last five minutes and since then, nobody has invited me.
"They want to destroy my career. They stopped me from taking up Tunisian nationality. I don't' want to play for Nigeria again."
However, there are moves by some Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) officials to have the aggrieved star back in the team, particularly with the thinking that he could be a joker in the pack for the Eagles against Tunisia.

REPORT POSTED FROM GUARDIAN NEWSPAPERS ONLINE.

Buchi: 2009-05-18 12:12

Before we apotion blames, we need to understand who processes the players visa. Head coach or the NFF protocol officials?

Buchi: 2009-05-18 12:25

Before we apportion blames, we need to understand who is responsible to process the players visa. Head coach or the NFF protocol officials?

Shijo: 2009-05-18 12:54

I am sure this another gimmick from the NFF to deceive us into thinking that if the match fails to hold, they can blame someone else.

Is it not so that English Premiership football teams play 3 matches within 7 days? We complain that our players are bench warmers in their clubs, now they get to play high profile matches, and we complain they will get fatigue? So how do they get match fit, if they don't play matches, tough matches? Check it, the fitness level of most of our players is not good enough, that's part of the reason they play lackadaisical football in SE colors.

I am not so sure that playing african countries will have more impact. When these European teams play african countries even without friendlies with african teams, they still beat the african teams. Winning matches is about team blending, strategies and tactics.

mbanzai: 2009-05-18 16:00

Shijo, that's a good point you've just made. European teams have never needed prior games with other African teams before handing us the traditional hammering.

ken gadaffi: 2009-05-19 04:22

when will Nigeria overcome this fire brigade approach to doing things?

It is really appalling to see that most of our administrators travel abroad often and see how things are organized yet they will never change their attitudes. Too bad