Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr has expressed his great delight after confirming the news that the Super Eagles will be taking on England’s national team in a friendly match at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday, June 2, 2018.
The announcement was made through a press publication on Wednesday, giving a confirmation that the friendly match would serve as a preparatory match for the Eagles against their first world cup clash with Croatia which has been fixed exactly two weeks after.
Speaking of the development, the 1st Vice President of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) and Chairman of the Federation’s Organizing Committee, Seyi Akinwumi told TheNFF.com on Tuesday that:
“The match is now confirmed. We have been doing a lot of work in the background, even going back to last year.
“Now, we are happy to say that it is all sealed. Certainly, it is going to be a big match, between two countries of remarkable historical affinity and similarities.
“We have other matches and programmes for the team, and we will soon roll out the entire plan for matches, camping sites and training camps.”
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NFF noted that the idea was first birthed by NFF President Amaju Pinnick in 2015 after meeting with the then chairman of the FA, Greg Dyke in London. Afterwards, another meeting saw Pinnick and NFF 2nd Vice president Shehu Dikko (who is also Chairman of the NFF Marketing, Sponsorship and TV Rights Committee) meeting with the incumbent chairman of the FA, Greg Clarke in London.
Rohr expressing his excitement on the announcement told TheNFF.com
“This is good news for myself and the entire team. England is a very strong team presently and I believe they will give us a very good match. We will be able to test our readiness for the World Cup when we meet the Three Lions at Wembley.”
Super Eagles of Nigeria.
Nigeria and England first clashed at senior level on 16th November 1994, also at the old Wembley Stadium. David Platt’s headed goal towards the end of the first half separated both teams.
Both teams met again at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The encounter at the Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan on 12th June 2002 ended 0-0, with the Super Eagles being eliminated from the finals at the group stage.
Akinwunmi further added: “We decided to be strategic in our choice of opponents for the Super Eagles leading to the World Cup, and in total agreement with the preferences of the Technical Adviser. That is why we opted for England. We played Argentina (in November 2017) without even knowing we were going to be in the same group at the Finals.”
England is one of only eight countries to have won any of the previous 20 editions of the FIFA World Cup finals.
While the Super Eagles play Croatia, Iceland and Argentina in Group D, the Three Lions are up against Belgium, Panama and Tunisia in Group G in Russia.
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