Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
In an apparent move to douse the nationwide anger over the crashing out of the Super Eagles in this year’s World Cup competition in Qatar following their 1-1 draw with the Black Stars of Ghana, the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, has apologised to Nigerians as well as the Federal Government over the poor performance of the national team.
NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, regretted that Super Eagles failed to qualify despite the enormous support by both the Government and Nigerians.
Sanusi in a statement obtained by Ikengaonline, Wednesday, regretted that the hope of Nigerians who thronged out in their numbers to fill up the 60,491-capacity Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja, for the encounter with Ghana’s Black Stars on Tuesday, was dashed.
The statement read: “There was nothing the team needed that was lacking. The Government provided necessary support; the NFF put all logistics in place with the active support of the Sports Ministry and Nigerians turned out en masse to support the team. The truth is that we left nothing to chance. It is sad that things turned out the way they did.
“Sports is about winning and losing. Nobody wants to lose but sometimes it happens that way. We are quite sad that despite playing a draw in Kumasi, the Super Eagles could not win here in Abuja. We apologise unreservedly to the Government and people of Nigeria for this non-qualification.”
Eagles had in their first leg encounter with Black Stars played 0-0 draw before holding them to 1-1 draw in a return match in Abuja, thus losing out on the away-goal rule.
