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| Nigeria/Ghana: Ghana Fears Nigeria''s No Show Reputation |
12/29/2006 |
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Lagos
Ghana football authorities are still not positively inclined to the proposed international friendly match between the Super Eagles and Black Stars billed for London on February 7.
Nigeria Football Association (NFA) Chairman Sani Lulu had recently announced that a deal had been done for the two west coast rivals to play at a neutral venue during the first international friendly window of next year.
But news from Ghana yesterday suggested that despite Lulu''s optimism, no solid arrangement had been made to guarantee the encounter between the traditional rivals.
Instead, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) is said to have held talks with Senegal and Morocco seen as more serious opponents for a match against the Stars on the same international day.
Nigeria''s difficultly in tying a derby date with the Black Stars could be as result of its penchant of calling off friendly engagements at the 11th hour - a situation which now makes it not be taken seriously by other federations.
According to reports the GFA still nurses grievances against NFA for the unceremonious cancellation of proposed meeting with Ghana billed for London on August 4 prompting the Ghanaians to save the international free day by lining up fellow World Cup debutants Togo.
Super Eagles coach Austin Eguavoen had then claimed he was not in the know about the engagement, which would make it difficult to assemble his players for the match.
He later told the media that the Ghana match had clashed with his proposed coaching course in Holland which he had arranged before the Ghana tie.
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The other instance that is possibly weighing against the Eagles was the dramatic withdrawal of the Nigerians from another scheduled match with Senegal in France last month because the terms of the match were not of monetary benefits.
Senegal coach Henri Kasperczak was riled by the cancellation of the Eagles match which he had hoped to use to prepare his charges for the Ghana 2008 qualifier against Tanzania on March 26 next year.
Ironically even though the Eagles have not played any friendly matches this year Nigeria is still the highest ranked African team in the world. The Eagles who missed qualification for Germany 2006 are ranked ninth by FIFA.
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