|
|
Nigeria: Eagles Ready to Sacrifice Holidays
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
This Day (Lagos)
12 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
Tunde Sulaiman
Lagos
The air of patriotism is once again reverberating in the hearts of the Super Eagles players following their resolve to forfeit their holidays for the honour of the nation.
Following changes made by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to the qualifying campaign for the joint Nations Cup and World Cup series, teams will now kick off battle next month rather than later in the year.
CAF decided to switch to having four matches played in the four weekends of next month in order to reduce the club-versus-country row that would have broken out had the competition kicked off later in the year.
June is when the European Championships is taking place and CAF wants to make the maximum use of the period so that later in the year only a few matches will be played.
However, June is traditionally the time when players go on break after a hectic domestic season before resuming in July to prepare for the new season.
But Super Eagles skipper Nwankwo Kanu has assured that his colleague will be ready to sacrifice their holidays in order to put smiles on the faces of Nigerians.
"Yes we know it will be difficult but we have only one country which is Nigeria. If this is the sacrifice that we have to make so be it," Kanu said in response to our question if the players will be committed to the cause next month.
Speaking to THISDAYSports on phone from England, Kanu said as players representing the national team the onus was on them to show their appreciation and honour for being chosen to do so.
"Nigeria is a very big country of over 140 million people and yet only 22 or so can be called up on to wear the national colours; this is a big honour which is appreciated.
"And the only way we can show this is by doing everything in our power to make our fellow countrymen happy by doing well in football which is a national pastime."
He said he was in constant touch with his colleagues and the general consensus was that they had to make up for the disappointment of the Nations Cup in Ghana.
"Yes we know how the country felt let down by our performance in Ghana. However, it is in the past and we have to look to the future. The future right now is Angola and South Africa and with both competitions being played at the same time it means we can't afford to take any chances.
"This is all the more reason why we have to make the sacrifice - there is very little margin for error. We have to start of well and maintain the momentum till we secure the qualification."
Kanu, who is currently the longest servicing member of the Super Eagles, said he cannot contemplate the nation missing out on another World Cup finals tournament.
|
"The pain of missing out of Germany 2006 is still there. We can't afford to make the same mistake for 2010 especially as the tournament is taking place in Africa."
Meanwhile, Nigeria Football Association (NFA) officials met with a number of Super Eagles players yesterday.
The meeting, which held last night at the Marriot Hotel, Portsmouth took place after the final Premiership game between Portsmouth and Fulham at Fratton Park and provided the Glass House the opportunity to formally introduce the coach Shaibu Amodu to the players.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
