Tunde Sulaiman
29 September 2008
Lagos — The coffers of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) will swell to the turn of $200, 000 courtesy of November's friendly with Latin American football powerhouse Colombia.
THISDAYSports exclusively scooped from reliable sources that this is the amount the organisers of the November 19 clash have used to entice the Glass House to take her national team, the Super Eagles, to Bogotá.
The amount excludes airfares for 18 players and five officials which will be borne by the organisers, who are said to have already started the build up to the friendly, which is being touted as a clash against an African football powerhouse, which will help the Colombia coach whip his team in line for a shot at making the next World Cup finals in South Africa.
Los Cafeteros (The Coffee Makers), as the Colombian national team is nicknamed, currently sits sixth in the South American qualification group, where only the top four are assured of automatic tickets to South Africa 2010.
The fifth placed team will take part in a two-leg play off against a side from the North, Central America and Caribbean zone for the final ticket.
Should the match go ahead, it will be the first friendly played since the departure of erstwhile Super Eagles handler Berti Vogts, who although had a disastrous outing at Ghana 2008, was able to bring back the 'good times' in terms of friendlies for the national team.
Delighted Glass House officials told THISDAYSports that their main aim of accepting the Colombian offer was not as much as making money but ensuring that they were able to properly utilise the FIFA free days for the national team.
"We know we have been criticised for not playing friendlies but hopefully this is the start of new things. Nigerians should see the Eagles playing more friendlies now and hopefully our critics will see that we're doing all we can for the Eagles," said a highly placed NFF official.
And word from Europe, where the bulk of the national team players are plying their trade, is delight that they will also be taking part in a friendly.
"I've said it all along that it is very important for us to play friendly matches," said Super Eagles skipper Nwankwo Kanu, on being told of the impending game with Colombia.
"The benefits cannot be over emphasised. It will allow the coach to try out new players and test new systems will it will build up camaraderie between the players, which is very important in building up a strong team. And with the main race for World Cup and Nations Cup tickets kicking off soon, friendlies are the best way we can prepare for the final round," said the Portsmouth star from his home in London.
He also said because the game would be taking place on a FIFA free day he did not expect many problems with Coach Amodu Shaibu being able to field a strong team.
"Yes some of the clubs may complain because of the distance, but because no domestic matches will be taking place on that day they can hardly refuse to release the players. So I believe the bulk of the players will be able to make the trip to South America."
For Los Cafeteros the game will be taking place almost a month after their last South Africa 2010 qualifier this year against Brazil on October 15th. After the trip to Rio, the qualifying campaign goes on break with Colombia's next game coming up on March 28th next year - a home tie against Bolivia.
The Eagles have already played the Latin American nation twice before, losing both games.
Their first loss was in 1995 at the US Gold Cup instructively during Amodu's first stint in charge of the national team.
A late goal by Gomez was all the Colombians needed to secure a 1-0 win in New Jersey over a haphazardly assembled Nigerian side who failed to make an impact at the tournament on the heel of other losses to USA and Mexico.
Fifteen years earlier at Moscow 80, Colombia had also run away with a 1-0 victory over Nigeria with Cordona sealing the tie in the 85th minute.
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