Uncertainty hit Eagles friendly match

There were indications last night that the proposed friendly match between the Super Eagles and Sudan scheduled for today was almost cancelled, even as team skipper Nwankwo Kanu arrived Malaga last night.
The match, which is to help the two Ghana 2008-bound teams prepare for the tournament kicking off in 11 days time, was threatened by the Sudanese demand that Nigeria share some of the cost.
However, Nigerian officials insisted last night that they were not ready to part with a kobo since the match was agreed to at the behest of the Sudanese in the first place.
“We never asked for the match it was they (Sudan) and as such they should have prepared adequately,” said a Nigerian official at the Eagles’ Atalaya Park Golf Hotel in Malaga, Spain last night.
In agreeing to play the match Nigeria is believed to have waived her appearance fee since FA officials saw it as being beneficial to the Super Eagles in their Nations Cup build up.
It was, however, learnt that Sudan, which is making her first appearance at the Nations Cup since Ethiopia’76, ran into difficulties when Atalaya Park Golf Hotel made it clear that they could not use their football pitch for the friendly.
Apparently in pushing to play the two-time champions, the Central Africans felt that they would only need to come up with allowances for the match officials, but the hotel’s position meant they would have had to hire a ground from a local club side – thus increasing the cost.
Incidentally one of the attractions of sticking with the original plan of camping the team in Malaga, in spite of wide opposition because of the weather condition, was the friendly match with Sudan, which is also training in the area.
But after a late evening negotations between both parties it was finally ageed that the match should go ahead.
Ostensibly both parties realised the damage of not playing would have on their Nations Cup build up since neither side has any other firm games planned before the Ghana 2008 kick off.
However, despite the uncertainty surrounding the friendly, FA officials said the players are in high spirits, sweating it out two times a day in an effort to bring smiles to the faces of Nigerians.
The players are also taking part in volleyball sessions as a way to build bonding within the team.
The players were divided into four teams, with two teams having five players each and the other two teams having six players each.
After three games per team, the group of five led by Vincent Enyeama and Seyi Olofinjana emerged champions after winning all their three games and were rewarded with extra bottles of water, which they proudly paraded around. The other members of the winning team were Mannasseh Ishiaku, Sani Kaita and Richard Eromoigbe.