U-23 Eagles, NFA on war path

Nigeria's chances of qualifying for the forthcoming Olympics in China may have suffered a set back as the players and the Nigeria football association officials are at loggerheads, reports nigeriasports.com.

The bone of contention nigeriasports.com can exclusively report, is the 750 dollars winning bonus which the boys received from the FA after the 3-2 victory over Ghana which reportedly fell beyond the expectation of the team.

The disappointed players openly expressed their displeasure over the meagre amount payed as match bonus and once again, it was the diplomacy of Samson Siasia that came to the rescue.

"But for our coach we wouldn't have collected the money. How can we come all the way from Europe and be payed $750 as match bonus, its ridiculous", one of the players openly protested.

"There is no way we will be eager to come for the remaining matches if this is what the FA will be offering us" another player added.

"They have also refused to pay for our flight ticket and upon that see what they are giving to us as winning bonus, this is annoying", a prominent member of the team concluded.

There are fears all over, even within the technical crew that the boys may not honour subsequent invitation with total committments as the teams' head coach was sighted at the NFA glass house pleading for more money on behalf of the players.

"The coach was here to plead on the need to encourage the boys more monetary wise but we were unable to strike an accord", nigeriasports.com gathered from an FA top official.

The U-23 Eagles have a delicate away game against South Africa on August 22, after summounting the Ghana challenge at Abuja 3-2 on June 3rd.