Ahead of the crucial 2018 FIFA World Cup to be hosted in Russia, Super Eagles players are to camp in France to prepare for the qualifying match against Cameroon which many analysts have described as a must win if Nigeria truly wants to be at the next world cup.
Gernot Rohr
General Secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Dr. Mohammed Sanusi told Sports Vanguard the choice of France is in line with the thinking of the technical adviser, Gernot Rohr that the players gather at a convenient venue in Europe before returning for the clash.
In a related development, the NFF scribe said despite the fact that he has not received any official communication from Rohr on the purported plan of taking international matches involving the Super Eagles out of London, the federation will accept any venue the technical crew will settle for.
“As for the future venue for our international friendly matches according to the report credited to the technical adviser, the secretariat has not sat with him for adequate briefing on what he meant by not playing future friendlies in London. He has not told us officially and we are waiting for such reports from him.
“Although we depend on the technical department to determine the venue of matches, we don’t have any problem of venue of matches as long as we will have maximum benefit playing such friendlies. We never turned down the request of coaches because we know that the choice of venue has technical considerations.”
The NFF scribe however explained that the choice of London for the last friendly game was due to the centrality of the city and the availability of the players who are mostly based in Europe.
Rohr was quoted to have said he had ruled out London as future venue for Super Eagles matches, after the visa hitches experienced by the Burkina Faso players, a development that forced the scheduled game.
