8th July, 2011
The hopes of football loving people of Bangladesh to witness the Super Eagles of Nigeria trade tackles with the La Albiceleste of Argentina in an international football match on their home soil in September was dashed yesterday, when the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF withdrew Samson Siasia and his Eagles from the high profile match.
According to a Bangladeshi FA top official, soccer-loving people in the Asian country have been eagerly looking forward to the match, but the cancellation is a serious disappointment.
The official said the FA was surprised with the sudden withdrawal by the Nigeria FA from a friendly, which the Argentine F.A has already put on its football calendar.
P.M Sports gathered that the chairman of technical committee of the NFF, Chris Green, broke the news of the country’s withdrawal from the international friendly match against the Argentine counterpart, a tie that was scheduled to take place in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 6 September.
The reason given by the NFF top shot was that the match would be coming up less than 48 hours after the Super Eagles’ crucial African Nations Cup qualifier against Madagascar, which would pose logistic challenges to both the players and the NFF.
—Bamidele Olowosagba