(AFP) – Nigeria
captain Vincent Enyeama said on
Sunday that the row over bonuses
that delayed the squad’s arrival at the
Confederations Cup had not been
resolved, but the players were putting
it to the back of their minds.
The African champions did not arrive
in Brazil until the early hours of
Sunday morning, just 36 hours before
their Group B opener against
minnows Tahiti on Monday, after
missing their scheduled flights on
Thursday.
The players were unhappy about
being offered bonus payments of $
2,500 (1,873 euros) following a 1-1
draw with Namibia in World Cup
qualifying and had demanded double
that amount from the Nigeria Football
Federation (NFF).
Mikel, Enyeama and Anichebe
A truce was eventually brokered by
Sports Minister Mallam Bolaji
Abdullahi, but on the eve of their
entrance into the Confederations Cup,
Enyeama revealed that the players
were still not satisfied.
“We haven’t settled anything, but
we’ve moved on and everything is
normal,” the Maccabi Tel Aviv
goalkeeper told journalists.
“We accept the criticisms, we’re
responsible for our actions and we
stay as a team.
“For now, this act is behind us. We’re
professionals. We don’t want to talk
about this — it’s about the past and
we don’t want to spend our energy
on these things.
“After the championship we’ll revisit it,
but for now we’re done.”
Coach Stephen Keshi, seated beside
Enyeama at the pre-game press
conference, refused to criticise his
players, but admitted he was
concerned about the effects of their
late arrival.
“I’m not going to tell you I’m upset
with the players. The decision
depends on the circumstances
around it,” he said.
“We’re here, which is the most
important thing. We’re here to make
Africa proud and Nigeria proud.
Whatever has happened before is
behind us and we just need to
concentrate and play our game.
“I’m a bit worried about fatigue. We
have been working mentally and
otherwise so the team is in shape, but
the fatigue is what I’m worried about.
I hope everything will be OK for
tomorrow (Monday).”
Lazio midfielder Ogenyi Onazi had
apparently been ruled out of the
tournament with a knee injury, but
Keshi said he could yet link up with
the squad if he is able to prove his
fitness in Nigeria.
“I’m still waiting for a call from Onazi,”
Keshi said.
“He’s back in Nigeria to fix something
on his knee and I hope he’ll call me
with good news he’s coming back.
“There’s a time limit. When we arrived
this morning, it was the first thing we
addressed. If we can get any
information from Onazi, we can go
ahead before the game.”
Although Tahiti have just one
professional player in their 23-man
squad and are ranked 107 places
below Nigeria in the world, Keshi
dismissed the suggestion that
Monday’s game in Belo Horizonte
would be a walk-over.
“I don’t think there’s a weak team in
this tournament,” he said.
“With all due respect to Spain, Brazil
and everyone, I think every team here
has made their way to be here and
deserves to be respected.
“Tahiti deserve a lot of respect for
being here. It’s true my team has a lot
of fatigue, but we’ll try to work
something out.
“We’ll prepare for Tahiti like we
prepare for Uruguay, Spain, Japan or
whoever we play against.”