Nooij To Take Nigeria To World Cup

[ayo.city]

Mozambique coach Mart Nooij has held talks with Nigerian officials

January 14, 2010

A top official of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has disclosed only to MTNfootball.com that there has been a "preliminary talk" with Mozambique coach, Mart Nooij, over guiding the Super Eagles to the World Cup, just as officials are divided over an ultimatum issued Shuaibu Amodu to beat Benin at the weekend.

"Yes, there has been a preliminary talk with the Mozambique coach. That was late last year," admitted the NFF official.

Nooij has been linked with the Eagles top coaching job since the Mambas played Nigeria to a standstill in World Cup qualifying action last year.

"He will be a realistic target for the World Cup because you can be sure we can afford far more than what Mozambique are paying him," added the official.

MTNfootball.com has also scooped that only NFF president, Sani Lulu, is now opposed to the replacement of Amodu after the Eagles slipped to a 3-1 loss defeat in a Group C match against Egypt here in Benguela.

"Nobody wants to sink with Amodu and I spoke to several officials about this at the team hotel Wednesday night and they all agreed that the man has to go. It is only the president who has stood his guns that Amodu is going nowhere," said the official.

This latest disclosure at a time when Nigeria officials are divided over an ultimatum issued Amodu to win Saturday's match against Benin or else give way for his assistant, Daniel Amokachi, to take over the team here in Angola.

"I can say very categorically that there is no ultimatum given Amodu to beat Benin because I attended all the meetings after the loss to Egypt," insisted media officer, Peterside Idah. "We set a semi-final target for the man and even after our defeat on Tuesday, we still have a good chance of reaching the knockout stage and going all the way to the final. So why would we now come up with an ultimatum?"

However, a higher placed NFF official confirmed to MTNfootball.com that an ultimatum has been issued the former BCC Lions handler.

"Yes, we have given him an ultimatum. We believe this will push him to perform better," said the top official.

http://nationscup.mtnfootball.com/live/ ... m_ID=27008