John Egbokhan
25 July 2007
Flying Eagles coach Issa Ladan Bosso has tendered an apology to world football governing body FIFA over comments he made accusing English referee Howard Webb of racism following Nigeria's 4-0 quarterfinal defeat to Chile at this month's FIFA Under-20 World Cup.
Bosso was unhappy at Webb's handling of the game and claimed that the Englishman's dubious decisions frustrated his boys and were responsible in large part for the heavy defeat.
"The way I see it, even if you bring the best players from Africa, they would not have been able to win today's match. It is one thing to have a plan to fight racism, and it is quite another to implement it," Bosso lashed out at the post match press conference immediately following the game.
"Fighting racism should be implemented to the letter and I believe the officiating today was against my boys."
FIFA subsequently referred the case to its disciplinary committee, but Bosso said on Tuesday that the comments were made in the heat of the moment and he had apologised.
"When a coach loses a match in a way you know was unfair to you, you are bound to make some comments that may not go down well," Bosso said. "These were comments that I made based on what I saw in the match and it was done in the heat of the moment.
"But I have tendered an apology to FIFA, and I did that as soon as we got back to Nigeria. I sent the letter to the NFA and they passed it on to FIFA, although we haven't heard anything from them yet."
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