[size=14pt]Nigerian community in South Africa pleads for Kaita[/size]
•NFF reviews Nigeria’s World Cup
06.26.2010

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Nigerian community in Durban have called on Nigerians back home to forgive Russia, based midfielder, Sani Kaita for his indiscretion against Greece.

http://odili.net/news/source/2010/jun/27/219.html

Many still see former AS Monaco skewered France player as the man who Nigeria’s World Cup train in a moment of intemperate action when he earned a straight red card in the Group B match.

Nigeria was 1-0 up when Kaita lashed out a foot at a Greek midfielder and was expelled. The Super Eagles appeared to lose their bearing from that moment and eventually lost 1-2.

President of the Nigerian community in Durban, Dennis Osazuwa said: “We have followed everything that has been said and written since that match and we know that our people all over the world feel very bad about what happened. But again, you look at it and agree that in sport, such things happen.

“We have to look at the good job the young man has being doing since he started representing the country and forgive him. He could not have gone out of his way to attract a red card. It happened in a moment of indiscretion.”

Bisi Alawiye-Adeyeye, a member of the community, added: “Kaita has been one of the strong performers in our national team for years. He also did very well at the U-20 and U-23 levels. This is the same guy who marked out Argentina’s Lionel Messi in the Olympic football tournament final in Beijing two years ago.

“We may feel bad that his expulsion eventually led, one way or the other, to our early ouster from the World Cup. But we have to admit that in sport, these things happen. We remember Zinedine Zidane in the final match of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, when he got a straight red card for head butting a player of France. Perhaps if he had been there, France would not have lost the penalty shoot-out,” Adeyeye said.

Meanwhile, the executive committee of the Nigeria Football Federation will on Tuesday meet in Abuja to review Nigeria’s participation at the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa.

The meeting, which would be chaired by Sani Lulu will also consider the technical and administrative reports of the tournament as compiled by the NFF secretariat and the various sub –committees put in place by the federation.

Nigeria failed to reach the knockout stages of the 2010 FIFA World Cup after losing her first two matches and drawn the last game against South Korea, when a win against the Asian representative would have guaranteed her qualification.

Of the six African flag –bearers, Ghana is the only nation to make it to the Round of 16 at Africa’s first –ever FIFA World Cup.

Let's forgive the guy. Afterall the guy claimed the oyinbo called him a fu, king black man. Let the restless dog rest.