All 23 members of the national team were in full flight at the U.J/ Esuene Stadium, Calabar, Cross River State on Thursday evening despite a downpour, with no one sure of which of them will be on the start list on Saturday in the World Cup qualifier against Malawi.
Nnamdi Oduamadi and John Ogu were the last two players to arrive and they showed no sign of let up at the wet pitch of the Calabar’s prime sports arena.
Among the crowed who came to catch a glimpse of the African champions was the Chairman of the Security Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation, Effiong Johnson, who discussed security issues with the state Sports Commissioner, Hon. Patrick Ugbe, and FIFA Security Chief in Nigeria, ACP Gideon Akinsola.
There was also the NFF Marketing Committee boss, Deji Tinubu, who has been trying to market Nigerian football on the world wide web, and several officials too numerous to mention.
At the training proper, which was the first full house ahead of the game against Malawi, Mandela Challenge hero, Uche Nwafor, was splendid.
So were Emmanuel Emenike, Brown Ideye, Victor Moses, Obinna Nosfor, Ahmed Musa and Shola Ameobi.
When asked about his selection concerns, Head Coach, Stephen Keshi, simply said he will pick only the best players and that will win for him on match day.
Fans at the stadium took nearly half of the arena in frenzy of their national team heroes and even after training they invaded the pitch in desperation to catch a glimpse of their stars, which did not quite go down well with the security men on ground in Calabar.
“We will get over situation before Saturday, because I am working in tandem with the Eagles Chief Security Officer, CSP Baba Nara,” declared ACP Akinsola on Thursday evening.
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