Brazil 2014: Minister, NFF meet again

Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi
| credits: economicconfidential.net

The Minister of Sports Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi and the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation are billed to meet again in Abuja today in continuation of the checks on the Super Eagles programmes for Brazil 2014 World Cup. The NFF top officials will meet the minister in company with the national coach Stephen Keshi.

The meeting had to be adjourned to this week to enable Keshi present and defend his programmes. The Eagles coach was not available last week which forced the final discussion to be put on hold until today. The meeting is billed to hold when the minister returns to his office after the Federal Executive Council meeting which also holds in Abuja on Wednesday.

An official of the National Sports Commission told our correspondent that the minister was treating the meeting as very urgent.

He said, “The minister wants to be sure of what is on ground and if very okay to start right on time. There has always been the problem of starting late with many sporting schedules in the past and that is what he is trying to avoid. And that explains why it is also holding on Wednesday so that things can be thrashed out immediately for immediate implementation.”

That week, the NFF board stated that Keshi had been given a free hand to select his camp venue for the World Cup. The venue, players, friendly matches and financing will form the major points of discussion during the meeting.

And as the countdown to CHAN 2014 continues, Keshi has begun the gradual elimination of players the technical crew has deemed not fit enough for the continental challenge. On Tuesday afternoon, two players were asked to go for poor performance, while four new ones were called up to strengthen the squad ahead of the tourney holding in South Africa next month.

The two players dropped are midfielder Mohammed Ajia of Bayelsa United and El-Kanemi of Borno defender, Reuben Ogbonnaya. Keshi, who spoke through his assistant, Dan Amokachi, said there was little or no time to prepare the squad hence the need to quickly identify tournament materials.

The four players, who are expected to join the squad in Abuja immediately, are Bendel Insurance duo of Obannu Erhune, who stars for the Benin side in the central defence position, and his teammate Ikeleji Bello, who is a defensive midfielder. Others are Warri Wolves’ Ewenike Achibi, also a midfielder, and Mfon Udoh, who recently crossed from Akwa United to Enyimba.

Amokachi said, “We have been tracking these players for sometime now and we want to give them a chance to prove themselves at a critical point like this and we hope they won’t disappoint.”