By David Kabiyesi
Nigeria’s dream of seeing Super Falcons feature against Canada may not be realised after all following plans by the girls to boycott their opening match against Canada, iwitnesslive.com can report.
The girls were said to be angry after head coach Randy Waldrum alleged that the country’s soccer governing body could not account for FIFA’s $960,000 grant released to prepare the team for World Cup.
Waldrum has continue to unleash series of attacks of NFF over non-payment of salaries and team selection for the world cup
“In October, every country was given $960,000 by FIFA to prepare for the World Cup, where is that money?” The American asked. “Up until about three weeks ago, I had been owed 14 months’ salary, and then they paid seven months’ salary. We still have players that haven’t been paid since two years ago when we played the summer series in the USA…it is a travesty,” he said.
Recall NFF General Secretary, Mohammed Sanusi, had told them that their match bonuses as well as 30 percent of the $1,560,000 FIFA grant to all member associations for the group stage of the competition had been canceled by the federation since they will be getting USD30, 000 as an appearance fee from FIFA.
Six senior players namely captain Onome Ebi, Rasheedat Ajibade, Asisat Oshoala, Ohale Osinachi, Tochukwu Oluehi, and Desire Oparanozie, held a lengthy meeting on arrival at the Mercure Resorts, Gold Coast, where the team is currently preparing for the World Cup. “We are going ahead to press for our demands,” a senior player was quoted to have said. “We are ready to go as far as missing our first game against Canada on July 21 because this has to stop. “On Wednesday night, we held a meeting where we agreed that we were going to find out if what we were asking for is legitimate, and that if it’s legitimate, we will press for our demands. It was what was agreed upon. The next meeting will be after we get the information we need and then the protest will start.”
“We were shocked, team morale went down immediately because we couldn’t believe what the man was saying. “Since the NFF is treating us like this, we have decided to stage a protest before the competition begins, so that the whole world will know what we are passing through. We can’t keep suffering and smiling. “At the last World Cup, the same thing happened and we were shortchanged, we won’t allow this to happen any longer. They dare not treat the Super Eagles like this. Is it because we are women? We must put a stop to this this time around,” the report stated.
