Rio 2016: E’Guinean officials abandon Falcons

Officials of the Nigeria Football Federation say African champions Super Falcons arrived Equatorial Guinea on Thursday, to a cold reception from officials of the country’s FA, ahead of their crucial second leg Rio 2016 Olympic Games qualifying match on Sunday.

The Falcons are walking a tightrope after being held 1-1 by Nzalang Nacional in the first leg in Abuja two weeks ago. The winners of the two ties will qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games.

The Nigerian delegation, led by NFF members Ibrahim Gusau and Dilichukwu Onyedinma, arrived in the capital city Malabo on Thursday night, before proceeding to Bata, venue of the game, on Friday morning.

The squad had a light training session in Bata, at a venue not far from their team hotel, after a short rest.

“The Equatorial Guinea FA officials have been behaving funny, but we expected that. They have been trying to frustrate our team,” NFF official, Tunde Aderibigbe, said.

NFF protocol official Barnabas Joro said Equatorial Guinean officials abandoned the Falcons to their fate, adding that they only managed to train through the efforts of the Nigerian Embassy.

Joro said, “Their FA sent only one member of their staff to receive us at the airport in Bata, and since then, we have not seen them.

“We need information on the match coordination meeting, tickets for members of the Nigerian community here and so on. But we cannot find them. Even when we went to the FA office in Bata on Friday afternoon, the place was locked.

“It was through our own efforts and that of the staff of the Embassy of Nigeria, who have remained with us, that we were able to get somewhere for the team to train.”

NFF’s Assistant Director, Media, Ademola Olajire, said Falcons trained at the match venue, Stade Nkoatoma de Bata, at 4:30pm on Saturday instead of 4pm.

“They allowed Falcons to train at 4.30pm because that is the time the match will now be played on Sunday. I don’t know why they shifted the match from 4pm, as directed by FIFA.

Falcons stars Asisat Oshoala, Francisca Ordega, Josephine Chukwunonye and Onome Ebi are all ruled out of the crucial tie.