Nigeria: Obuh Makes U-Turn on Flying Eagles Trio

Daily Independent (Lagos)

14 July 2011

Flying Eagles coach, John Sam Obuh, has made a u-turn on three Flying Eagles players, Skipper Ramon Azeez, Stanley Okoro and Aliyu Mohammed by forgiven them despite staying away from the team’s training tour of Portugal ahead of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia.

The coach had during the week threatened not to name any player that failed to turn up in Portugal for the tournament that kicks off next week in Colombia.

“I have forgiven the players. Their inability to join us was not our making, but the players and those handling them,” Obuh said.

“What is now left is for me to decide is who among them could add value to the squad.”

Flying Eagles will leave Faro 2.am Friday for Lisbon, where it will connect a flight to Amsterdam after which it will set out on an 11-hour flight to Panama City.

Meanwhile, coach Obuh has attributed his team’s below-par showing to anxiety by the players over who will make the final cut.

“I’m certainly not satisfied with what they play against Portugal,” he said.

“It was the entire team and not just a handful of players and one could attribute it to the fact the players were either being too careful or too overzealous all in the bid to impress and in the end they made many mistakes.

“I believe we will improve a lot more especially when the tension over the final squad is over.”

Ten-man Flying Eagles drew 0-0 with their Portuguese counterparts on Wednesday at the Estadio Nacional in Lisbon. Defender Felix Odoh was sent off in the 59th minute for a professional foul.

Goalkeeper Gideon Gambo however saved the resulting penalty taken by Sergio Oliveira.

Portugal controlled this warm-up tie especially in the first half in a rather bruising encounter.

In the 28th minute, goalkeeper Kazeem Yekeen made a point blank save off Nelson Oliveira.

Standard Liege’s Kenneth Omeruo who captained the team was outstanding in the defence against a desperate Portuguese side, which has drawn its last three games now.

Nigeria made as many as seven changes in the 52nd minute as the Nigerian attack got some bite.

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