EAGLES NOW FOR BRAZIL SATURDAY

Written by  NNE  Jun 14, 2013

Super Eagles training

The Super Eagles who have been holed up in Namibia after a bonus row will now fly out to Brazil on Saturday, officials said. 

This decision followed the intervention of the country’s sports minister. 

The Eagles failed to catch their flight out to Brazil for the FIFA Confederations Cup on Thursday after they insisted they be paid their usual win bonus for a 1-1 draw in Namibia on Wednesday. 

“We are most grateful to the (sports) minister for his intervention in the matter, which means the team can now travel to Brazil on Saturday and arrive in Belo Horizonte before the first match against Tahiti on Monday,” said Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) general secretary Musa Amadu. 

Amadu said the NFF, like most Nigerians, were shocked by the action of the players to stay back in Namibia. 

“We are shocked like every Nigerian at the attitude of the players,” he said. 

“It is incomprehensible because the NFF president and myself sat down with the management of the Super Eagles, including coach Stephen Keshi, to explain why we had to slash the bonus and other measures taken as a result of our financial constraints.”

The NFF also dismissed reports that they were queried by the National Sports Commission over the bonus saga.

“We did not receive any query from the National Sports Commission. Before taking the decision to slash the win-bonus and downsize the team’s crew, we briefed the minister,” Amadu added.