Nigeria’s players and coaches had to start their preparations for Sunday’s friendly against Brazil in their personal kit, as the team’s official gear arrived late with the delegation from Abuja.
Megasportsarena.com gathered that the delay was occasioned by the inability of the Eagles’ backroom staff to get entry visas to Singapore early, and they could not fly out until late on Wednesday.
It meant the opportunity Eagles’ coach, Gernot Rohr had to start his preparations a day earlier would have been scuttled, had the Franco-German tactician not taken a bold decision that all the players and coaches should start with their personal attire.
Rohr, though, had been banking on the eventual arrival of the Eagles’ official kit on Thursday for the commencement of full training, as reports filtered into camp about the acquisition of visas by the backroom staff, among whom was the kit manager, Chidi Oguka.
However, Rohr still went ahead to open his programme on Wednesday, as he and the other coaches on ground led the players through their recovery session on the premises of their hotel abode, then ended up in the gym for some fitness drills, after which they had a warm down spell indoors as well, all of which they undertook in individual kits.
Thursday’s training was initially billed for early in the morning, but had to be delayed as well, in order to keep vigil for the incoming training kits, camp wear and other equipment needed for a proper session on the pitch, with Rohr hoping to start tactic formation for the game on Sunday.
Joining the Eagles’ backroom staff on the flight from Abuja was Heartland of Owerri goalkeeper, Ikechukwu Ezenwa and up till early Thursday, Stoke City of England midfielder, Oghenekaro Etebo was the only player yet to arrive ahead of the team’s first major training session.
Before then, the number of players in camp rose to 20 late Wednesday, as Shehu Abdullahi got in from his base from Turkey, alongside SC Paderborn of Germany left-back, Jamilu Collins to swell the number of invitees that had reported for Sunday’s epic clash.