TVC E, SOCCER – The Pharaohs of Egypt are planning to compound the current headache of the Super Eagles head coach Sunday Oliseh ahead of the double-header Gabon 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying fixture.
On the North-African team’s side, all seem to be going well, while on the Nigerian side, the stir caused by coach Sunday Oliseh’s recent video rant has yet to die down and plans for the clash remain unclear.
The Pharaohs took advantage of their absence from the Rwanda 2016 African Nations Championship to prepare for the Eagles. They played two friendlies against Jordan and Libya on January 27 and 29 respectively, losing 1-0 to Jordan and beating Libya 2-0.
Before the two encounters, Egypt’s national team coach Hector Cuper named a squad of the 32 players from which the players who would face Nigeria on March 23 and 27, would be selected.
It was also agreed that the EFA chairman Gamal Allam will head the delegation that will travel to Nigeria for the March 23 encounter, which they plan to win and thereby mount more pressure on Oliseh. While the Egyptian FA was planning for the AFCON qualifiers, the Nigeria Football Federation was holding meetings to decide on how to handle reactions to Oliseh’s outburst in which he described his critics, particularly some ex-Eagles, as insane.
Part of the reactions was the splitting of the NFF Technical Committee, with ex-internationals including Christian Chukwu, Victor Ikpeba, MutiuAdepoju and GarbaLawal, reportedly resigning their appointment to the committee.
The NFF President AmajuPinnick confirmed the rift in an interview on Thursday, saying Oliseh’s action was a distraction to the national team.
While Oliseh is expected to pay a fine of N6m and tender an apologypublicly, the NFF would be busy the calming frayed nerves of all the stakeholders who were affected by the rant.
Pinnick said the leadership of the NFF will appeal to members of the Technical Committee, the Eagles’ backroom staff, the team’s financiers and sponsors, as well as the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria to pardon the coach in the interest of the nation.
For now, all that is known concerning the Nigeria’s preparations for Egypt is that Oliseh is expected to face the NFF Technical Committee to defend his squad list, which would be announced after it has been approved by the committee.
