Nigeria’s Supersand Eagles will today know their group opponents as the draw for this year’s FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup finals hold in Nassau, The Bahamas.
A statement from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) says that FIFA instructor and Team Administrator of the Supersand Eagles, Mr Sunday Okayi, will represent Nigeria at the draw scheduled to hold at the Hotel Atlantis, The Bahamas.
Nigeria, Africa’s two-time winners who finished second at the 2016 AFCON beach soccer in Lagos after losing 4-8 to Senegal in the final, are going for a fifth appearance in the competition which holds this year from April 27 to May 7.
Meanwhile, the Supersand Eagles handler, Audu Adamu, has said he is determined to take Nigeria as far as the semi-finals this time.
“I want to make a statement by taking Nigeria to the semi-finals at the World Cup in the Bahamas. Our best performance at the World Cup was quarter-final finish [in 2007 and 2011] and I believe we can do better this time with proper motivation. We just have to put certain things in place.
“In my programme for the World Cup, I want us to embark on a training tour where we will play a series of friendlies. I even want a friendly against Russia which did not qualify for the World Cup,” ‘Ejo’ as he is fondly called, told Tribune Sport.
The Kogi state-born former BCC Lions goalkeeper also clamours for incentives to propel his men before the global competition.
“They [NFF] only gave the players N500,000 each as competition bonus after the AFCON competition in Lagos. In the past, we were paid $1,000 as winning bonus and the players expected this again in Lagos. Though, they [NFF] told the players before the competition of what they will be paid.
“We need motivation going for the World Cup, we will be happy if they can give us $2,000 or $3,000 as winning bonus. We have been on $1,000 winning bonus for seven years now, so, it will be extra motivation if they can increase this time. We have to show the world that the black continent is also good at beach soccer.
“This time we have to start preparation early. If we start camping by early February, we can go to Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal and play because these are teams which gave us headache in Lagos during the AFCON. We lost the Cup in Lagos because we didn’t prepare early enough because I believe we were better than most of the teams in the competition,” said the former Ashanti Gold of Ghana goalkeeper.
SOURCE: Nigerian Tribune
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