Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) approves coach Keshi's world cup qualifying programme - The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) said it has approved the 2014 World Cup qualification programmes submitted to it by Super Eagles chief coach, Stephen Keshi.
The national football body stated that while it still savours the 2013 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) victory of the Super Eagles in South Africa, it has moved on to commence preparations for the team’s quest to secure the groups ticket for the Brazil 2014 FIFA world cup.
The Chairman of the NFF media committee, Mr. Emeka Inyama, told journalists in Abuja that the federation wasted no time in approving Keshi’s world cup programme.
Under the programme, home-based Super Eagles will resume camping next week for the 23 March world cup qualifying match against Kenya which is to hold in Calabar, capital of the South Eastern Cross River State.
The players will remain in camp for some few weeks before they are joined by their foreign based counterparts in Abuja, Inyama said.
Inyama also announced that the NFF will also use the Super Eagles camping to commence preparations for the African Nations Championship (CHAN) for home-based players, which is to be staged in South Africa in 2014.
Said he, “As a focused and visionary board, the NFF executive committee and management have put the triumph in South Africa behind us and are fully prepared for challenges ahead to prove that the victory in South Africa is not a fluke.
'Having won the 2013 AFCON, our target has immediately shifted to the 2014 world cup qualifying matches, with our next match in the series coming up on Saturday, 23rd March against Kenya in Calabar. From the programme submitted by the technical crew and approved by the NFF, the camping of the home boys will start a few weeks before the foreign-based professionals arrive. The NFF will put all arrangements in place for this and other world cup qualifiers away to Kenya and Namibia in June.”
On its relationship with the Super Eagles coach, the NFF maintained that it has always provided all the necessary requirements for the coach and his team, adding that coach Keshi has never complained of not having the full support of the NFF president Aminu Maigari and the entire board in the team’s preparations for the African Cup of Nations championship.
According to Inyama, “I have no doubt that you are all aware of the various and tireless efforts of the NFF in ensuring the triumph in South Africa. To start with, We gave Keshi the motivation, incentives and the enabling environment to succeed. So, the NFF has remained the biggest supporter of coach Stephen Keshi.'
Pana 15/02/2013