Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have set plans in motion to ensure the Super Eagles open camp at a location in France on September 2nd, in order to accord the players easy access to gather ahead of next month’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Seychelles.
With the match against Seychelles scheduled to hold on Friday, September 7 in Victoria, NFF egg heads of a view that it would be easier to gather the players in France, from their various bases in Europe, and travel direct to Victoria for the AFCON 2019 qualification tie.
This is in contrast with initial reports that the team will open camp in Abuja on September 1 and then fly out from the Nigerian capital direct to Seychelles for the game.
That plan, though, does not go down well with Eagles technical adviser, Gernot Rohr, who has always been fussy about adequate logistics for his players, in order not to incommode their fitness and welfare.
The match in Victoria will be the Eagles’ first match since they crashed out of the 2018 World Cup in Russia at the group stage, and Rohr is seeking an instant revival for the side.
Incidentally, Nigeria and Seychelles are without a point in the AFCON 2019 qualifiers, as they both lost their opening games in the series.
While the Eagles lost 2-0 at home to South Africa, Libya pounded Seychelles 5-1 at home, such that the September 7 tie has been tagged ‘win-or-bust’ for the two teams.
Only the top two teams in the group will qualify for next year’s AFCON in Cameroon, and Rohr wants to hit the ground running at the restart of the qualification race.
