Femi Solaja
8 July 2009
Lagos — The president of the Nigeria Football Federation, Sani Abdulahi Lulu, has commended members of the Beach Eagles for their feat in winning the African title towards the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Finals coming up in Dubai, South Africa later in the year. The team had returned to Nigeria Monday night from South Africa, where the Africa Finals took place, into a sizeable welcoming crowd, which came to meet them at the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos.
On arrival aboard an Arik Air jet, security agents were finding out they had underestimated the popularity of the team in their feat in winning the African title, and so had a tough time restricting the movements of fans who had turned up to welcome the team at the airport.
Lulu, who came with the team, addressed the players at the airport, commending them for doing the nation proud and letting them know their victory will no doubt act as a morale booster to the Super Eagles, who are neck dip in the battle for the sole ticket in Group B of the 2010 World Cup Finals coming up in South Africa.
"This your victory will definitely serve a good stead for the senior team, the Super Eagles, more so because your feat was achieved in South Africa where they are fighting to be, for the FIFA World Cup Finals. "We are all proud of you and if we judge it by the mammoth crowd that came to welcome you, we can conclude that Nigerians are really proud of you.
"Also, considering the fact that the team has won this trophy before, Nigerians no doubt expect you all to repeat the feat and we are indeed happy to be associated with the performance you displayed during the tournament. I can assure you that the President of the country, Alhaji Musa Yar'Adua, is very happy with you and that he really appreciates this achievement. The Minister for Sports, Engineer Sanni Ndanusa, has already communicated your feat and performance in South Africa to him. We are sure that in due course the team would be rewarded for this achievement."
The NFF president also hinted the squad that they would be part of the final match of the Federation Cup, which will come up Sunday at the Teslim Balogun Stadium. He said there is a plan to have the players dressed in a special ceremonial outfit for the occasion. He also said a token from the federation would be announced to the team during the course of the final match.
The team's captain, Isa Abdulahi, the goalkeeper of the squad, thanked the NFF for the wonderful support given to the team at the tournament and assured that if such hospitality is extended to them during the world finals later in the year in Dubai, the team will definitely go places.
Patriotism of Yobo, Utaka
"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country". These words on marble by the late former American President, John Frederick Kennedy, may be the new mantra of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), if their reaction to the act of chartering an aircraft by two Super Eagles players in order to meet up with the training of the team towards the clash against Tunisia last month is anything to go by.
In order to meet up to the schedule of the team in the throes of the match against the Carthage Eagles, Joseph Yobo and John Utaka, had paid for a chartered flight to convey them and some other members of the team, who were set to be stranded in Europe on the eve of the fixture, to the Tunisia. Now, the NFF has sent a letter of commendation to the two players, praising them on their selfless initiative.
The two players, who are key actors of the useful goalless draw achieved at the Rades Stadium against the Carthage Eagles had decided taking the chartered flight was the best option at the time after a murky flight arrangement for all the team members that were not issued Schengen visas for the Malta training camp had left them stranded.
A top official of the federation had said soon after the goalless encounter that the 'out of pocket expenses' by the players was not in the budget of the NFF and thus kept everybody in the dark on the next line of action. However, a top management staff of the federation said yesterday that the NFF actually tried to reach the players but that the duo had been evasive over the issue, which has now made the federation to follow the present course of a 'Thank You letter' to them for the unflinching support to Nigeria's quest for getting the ticket.
The letter according to the top official was signed by Lulu on behalf of board members.
A portion of the letter harped on the players' patriotism, saying future generation of players has a lot to learn from the act.
The duo, along with goalkeeper Dele Aiyenugba and assistant coach Daniel Amokachi, were not issued Schengen visas for the Malta training camp despite the best efforts of the NFF and the Presidency through the Presidential Task Force, and were scheduled to leave for Tunisia two days to the match via Emirates Airlines.
Due to a mix-up, the trio could not take that particular flight and the NFF had to put them on a British Airways flight through London.
However on arrival London in the morning, they discovered that the next connecting flight to Tunisia was late afternoon, meaning they would miss the day's training session, barely two days to the match itself.
Thinking about the implications of not being there on time, the two players then made arrangements to charter a private aircraft out of Surrey that would take them direct to Tunis. They paid the cost, on behalf of others, from their pockets. They arrived Tunisia just past noon, and in good time to join the rest of the squad for the afternoon training session.
Yobo has made similar self-sponsored trip on behalf of the team before when he sponsored himself to Mozambique to give the squad moral support. On that occasion, he had not been listed for the match due to injury. The match ended in a barren draw against the Black Mambas in Maputo.
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