17th June, 2014
An executive committee member of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Sulaiman Kwande has accused the Super Eagles of sabotage after they were held to a goalless draw by Iran in the FIFA World Cup taking place in Brazil on Monday.
Kwande said the players were not driven to represent the country against the backdrop of their demand for the payment of an appearance fee at Brazil 2014.
“These players were nonchalant, it’s a conspiracy. They were very rude during their meeting with the Senate President, David Mark over their demand for appearance fee for the World Cup. It was really, really sad,” blasted Kwande.
However, another NFF executive Felix Anyansi-Agwu has called for Nigerians to continue to support the team because they could still qualify from their first round group, which also has Argentina and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
“Iran played the game of their lives, we should therefore not be disappointed, and rather we should support the team. Who says we can’t beat Argentina?” the Enyimba chairman argued.
Meanwhile, ohn Obi Mikel has accused Iran of parking the bus after Nigeria drew 0-0 with the World Cup minnows in their World Cup opener on Monday.
In a dire affair that produced the first goalless draw of the competition, the Super Eagles struggled for any sort of attacking fluency, with their star men anonymous.
Mikel, who operated in an unfamiliar No.10 role, in stark contrast to his deep-lying midfield position at Chelsea, was handed the man-of-the-match award for attempting to at least stamp some authority on proceedings.
After the game, the Chelsea man admitted his side had come up short in the final third and said they will need to be sharper in front of goal if they are to reach the knockout stages.
He said: “We are very disappointed because the opening match is very important.
“We looked for the win, but Iran knew what we wanted to do and put 11 men behind the ball. They managed to stop us from playing our game.
“We’ll have to create more chances in our next match and be sharp in front of goal.” Next up for Nigeria are Bosnia in Cuiaba on Saturday night.