13th November, 2013
With less than 72 hours before the crucial 2014 World Cup qualifier between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and Wayla Ibex of Ethiopia, the Nigerian camp in Calabar, Cross River State has been declared injury free.
This disclosure was made Wednesday evening by Media Officer of the national team, Ben Alaiya, prior to the evening training session of the team in Calabar.
The second leg of the World Cup playoff will take place on 16 November at the U.J Esuene Stadium in Calabar.
According to Alaiya, all 26 invited players for the all important match met the arrival deadline of Tuesday given by head coach Stephen Keshi.
He denied reports making the rounds that defender Elderson Echijile who came in last to the camp was fined by Keshi for his action.
Alaiya said:”There is no truth in the report in the media that Echiejile was fined by coach Keshi when he arrived Calabar.
“Though he got to camp Tuesday evening while we were already rounding off our first training session but he was never fined by Keshi.”
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, have given assurance that everything has been put in place to ensure that the Ethiopians are well received in Calabar when they arrived on Thursday.
A member of the federation’s Technical Committee, Paul Bassey made this statement on Wednesday while answering questions on the preparation for a hitch free match on Saturday.
Nigeria need at least a draw to qualify for their fifth World Cup in 2014 holding in Brazil.
—Bamidele Olowosagba