Eagles May Camp in South Africa for Madagascar Match

David Ngobua

9 June 2011

Indications have emerged that the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, may settle for South Africa as the place for the Super Eagles to camp ahead of their next Nations Cup qualifier against Madagascar in September.

Following the travel hitches which characterized the national team’s trip to Ethiopia for the Nations Cup qualifier against the Waylas Antelopes, the football federation has resolved to make concrete and early plans for the Madagascar match.

Speaking to Trustsports yesterday in Abuja, NFF Chief Media Officer, Mr. Ademola Olajire said the federation will meet with the coach of the team, Samson Siasia within the week and one of the key issues to be discussed would be venue for the team’s camp.

He said relevant officials of NFF would meet with Siasia to hear from him and also assist him with suggestions on the way forward especially as it concerns the make or mar match in Madagascar.

Olajire said at the moment, the football federation is considering the proximity and weather condition of South Africa and Mauritius and would settle for one of the two countries.

According to him, South Africa looks good to host the Super Eagles because both the players and NFF are not new to the Southern African country.

“Coach Siasia will meet with the federation this week and part of the discussion would center on the team’s camp for the match against Madagascar. Eagles will have to camp outside Nigeria close to the venue of the match. Moreover, by then the leagues in Europe must have commenced and it would be in order to take the camp close to the players.

“At the moment, we are looking at either South Africa or Mauritius. We are taking into consideration factors such as weather and proximity to the venue of the match. South Africa may have an edge over Mauritius because the players and the federation are conversant with the country.

“Aside from picking a camp for the team, the federation would like to listen to the coach on his plans for the Madagascar clash. The federation would like to eliminate all the hiccups that were encountered before the match against Ethiopia”, he stated.

When reminded that the federation had picked Faro, in Portugal as camp for its national teams, the Chief Media Officer explained that Faro is meant for national teams that are to camp for a long time for championships.

“Yes, we picked Faro but not in this case. Faro is meant for long camping for championship. In his case, we are talking about preparation for a match which will take a couple of days”, he explained.

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