2019 AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS: Ismailia to host Eagles, Teranga Lions friendly
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF’s) President has confirmed that the international friendly game between the Super Eagles and Africa’s best team in FIFA’s monthly ranking, the Teranga Lions of Senegal will hold in Ismailia, Egypt on June 16.
Disclosing this in a Lagos-based sports channel on TVC monitored by Sportinglife.ng on Wednesday night, Pinnick revealed that arrangements have been concluded to fly the players and coaches to Egypt aboard a charter airline but refused to disclosed the airline and how much it cost the federation.
Pinnick revealed further that the federation had no plans to give Gernot Rohr and the players any target to meet at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations holding in Egypt from June 21 to July 19, insisting that such directives put more pressure on them.
Based on my experience as the Executive Chairman of the Delta State Sports Commission (DSSC), I discovered that such targets make the coaches and players panic. Instead, I prefer a systematic plan to ensure that the team is given everything it requires to excel. With a better-prepared squad, anything can happen when the games begin.
The NFF chief refused to blame the Flying Eagles over their uninspiring campaign at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup holding in Poland, insisting that they were more concerned with discovering new players who could replace aging and off form players in the Super Eagles.
”I cannot sit here and criticise the Flying Eagles’ performance. For us a federation, it is important to state here that the FIFA U-17 and U-20 World Cups are developmental competitions meant essentially to discover new players and I can tell you that already the Flying Eagles left wing back fits the bill of being one of the new players we can further groom to play in the Super Eagles by next year.”
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The Teranga Lions have been drawn in Group C alongside Kenya, Tanzania, and Algeria.