Abu Dhabi friendlies: Eagles ask for more, hails NFF

After two exciting friendly games against Cote D’ Ivoire In Abu Dhabi and Yemen in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), losing the former 1-0 and winning the latter by 2-0, the Super Eagles made up entirely of professional players from the Nigeria Premier League have commended the leadership of the NFF under Amaju Pinnick, for the friend­lies even as the players have asked for the sustenance of friendly games culture.

Speaking on behalf of his teammates, Skipper of the side, Chigozie Agbim, said all the players were happy that they were not redundant in January, following the mishap of non-qualification for the ongoing Nations Cup championship in Equatorial Guinea.
He said he was speaking the minds of his teammates, who made the same re­marks after the friendly against Yemen on Saturday in Dubai. “All the players were unanimous in saying that playing friendly games is a way of making the team blend together and building the unity of the team, the coaching staff and the ensuring that the players are active throughout the year.
“What we want to demand is that this laudable development should not be a one off thing. We want a sustenance of the culture of friendly matches in the Nigerian soccer system, so that we will get to know ourselves better and we will not have the problem of blending when we have crucial qualifying games like it happened in the ACN qualifiers”.
The team returned home on Sunday, with Assistant Coach, Dan ‘The Bull’ Amokachi, like Stephen Keshi admonish­ing the players to keep the same level of discipline and focus at their various club sides if they hope to receive future invita­tions to the national team. He praised the team’s level of concentration during the friendlies and said it must be sustained at their various clubsides in the course of building a more virile national team.