The Muslim players in the squad will no longer observe Ramadan on match days in their bid to win the competition and will confront England with a fully fit team on Wednesday


When the Nigeria Under-20 squad confront England for a quarter-final ticket at the Fifa World Youth Championship 2011 in Armenia, Colombia on Wednesday, they will be firing on all cylinders.

The four Muslim players in the squad who were observing the holy Ramadan fasting period have decided not to fast on match days in order to preserve their fitness and maximise their strength.

Star forward Ahmed Musa, who has scored three goals, captain Ramon Azeez, forward Abdul Ajagun and defender Ganiu Ogungbe have decided to buy out their fast, an Islamic ritual which involves paying to feed 60 people on any day that the faithful is unable to observe the injunction.

Saudi Arabia, their opponents in the last game, have had their fast bought out by their federation according to a report by The Punch.

In what must be a delight for the coaching crew, John Obuh has now set his sights on defeating the young England squad in their next game. The English have not scored a goal in the tournament as they drew their three group matches en route to the knock out stage.

“Our focus is now on the England game on Wednesday. As much as we respect all the teams left in this tournament, we hope to win to qualify for the quarter-final,” Obuh was quoted by the newspaper.

Nigeria will go into the game confident of their scoring abilities having found the back of the net 12 times and conceding just twice in their bid to finally win a gold at the competition after two previous runners-up titles.



source: http://www.goal.com/en/news/2682/fifa-under-20-world-cup/2011/08/09/2611608/nigeria-under-20-players-will-not-be-fasting-when-they-play

Are they going to be feeding 60 Colombians each or Nigerians?

And is the money going to be provided by the players themselves or the NFA?

If the NFA does the provision, doesn't that mean that the players themselves weren't directly responsible for the payment thereby invalidating the "rituals"?