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The leadership of
the Nigeria Football Federation has apologised to Nigerians over the
poor performance of the Super Eagles at the World Cup in South Africa.

The decision to
tender an unreserved apology to the country was reached at the end of
an executive committee meeting of the federation in Abuja yesterday.

A communiqué issued at the end of deliberations read in part:

“The Executive
Committee tendered apology to the Federal Government and all football
-loving Nigerians for the early ouster of the Super Eagles from the
2010 FIFA World Cup finals, despite immense support by Mr. President
and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
(GCFR), and other well-meaning Nigerians.” The Eagles exited in the
first round of the tournament after losing to Argentina and Greece and
drawing its last group game against South Korea. It finished last in
the group with only one point and three goals to show for the nearly
one billion naira spent on their participation in the tournament.

Nigerians were united in their anger at the poor performance, prompting the apology from the NFF.

Other decisions
reached at the meeting and contained in the communiqué include the
decision to commence rebuilding the Eagles. The executive committee has
directed that the technical crew of the team, which for the time being
will be led by Austin Eguavoen in the absence of Lars Lagerback who is
on a two-week holiday, embark on “a highly rigorous technical process
of raising a new team to be dominated by the youth and home grown
talent”. The federation charged them to develop a long term programme
“that will give the new team adequate exposure and confidence ahead of
imminent qualifying competitions”.

Scrapping home-based Eagles

Another key decision taken by the NFF was the disbanding of the home-based Eagles.

According to the
communiqué: “There will be only one Super Eagles, with no foreign
-based or home -based appellations. Discipline will continue to be key
issue in Nigerian national team camps, national youth teams will be
exposed to more international tournaments and the senior teams will be
made to play more friendly games.” Other decisions reached at the
meeting also include the engagement of a highly -qualified Psychologist
for the national teams.

It also directed
the Secretariat to ensure that the national U-20 women’s team,
Falconets and the U-17 girls’ team, Flamingoes, prepare adequately for
upcoming FIFA championships. The Falconets will take part in the FIFA
U-20 Women’s World Cup in Germany (13th July – 1st August) while
Flamingoes will participate in FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Trinidad
and Tobago (5th – 25th September, 2010).

It was also
resolved that bonuses paid to the players of the national women’s teams
(Super Falcons, Falconets, Flamingoes) be reviewed upwardly.