•Bonus crisis deepens •May face FIFA's sanction •NFF threatens Keshi with sack
Nigeria's soccer team, the Super Eagles, went on strike yesterday, refused to leave their hotel in Namibia and thus missed a flight to Brazil where they are supposed to compete in the Confederations Cup, which gets underway at the weekend.
"They are declining to leave," Namibia Football Association general secretary, Barry Rukoro, told Reuters. "They were supposed to go at 11 a.m. this morning but they say they were owed money by their association and want it sorted before they will leave the hotel. "Their officials all departed on an earlier flight this morning but the players and the technical staff are still here.
So far, there is no indication they are leaving." Sources said the Nigerian players were angry over unpaid bonus promised to them after they beat Kenya in a World Cup qualifier last week.
They had been promised payment after Wednesday's match against Namibia in Windhoek, where a 1-1 draw took the African champions closer to the final stage of qualification for next year's World Cup in Brazil. The 23-man Nigeria squad was supposed to fly from Windhoek to Johannesburg and catch a connection to Brazil, where it was due to arrive late yertersday, a FIFA spokesman in Zurich confirmed.
They are due to play their first game in the competition against Tahiti in Belo Horizonte on Monday. Meanwhile, Nigeria may face FIFA's sanction over Eagles failure to arrive Brazil as scheduled by the organisers of the Confederations Cup.
It would be noted that Nigeria's World Cup qualifiers against Namibia and Kenya were brought forward by FIFA to accommodate the early arrival of Super Eagles in Brazil and that effort has now been defeated by the players industrial action. News from the Eagles camp indicated that the players didn't want the soccer federation to shortchange them even when they were doing well.
According to one of the players, who didn't want his name in print,`' the same federation would abandon us when we are no longer active. We are wiser today, we know what has happened to those who played for the country before us." The media in Brazil is equally disappointed over the happenings in the Eagles' camp.
Sports journalists in Brazil were not happy that Nigeria failed to arrive as scheduled as they were already awaiting them at the airport. Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) officials fuming with rage, are threatening to sack the team's head coach, Stephen Keshi, for failing to stop his wards from embarking on industrial action.
Via: Sun News Online