Pinnick: Why Super Eagles Will Play Mali, Luxembourg

President of Nigeria Football Federation Amaju Pinnick has claimed that the two international friendly matches arranged for the Super Eagles in the next FIFA window will benefit the young side Nigeria is building.

The Super Eagles are scheduled to engage the national teams of Mali and Luxembourg in late May and early June in France and the NFF has appointed Salisu Yusuf and three other league coaches with the responsibility of leading the senior national in the two matches.

The NFF boss told Completesportnigeria.com that the federation tried to arrange bigger games with top footballing countries but it turned out that most of those they approached were occupied in this FIFA window and they had to make do with what was available instead of not playing at all.

“The two games will benefit the new Super Eagles we are trying to build and it is wrong to say Mali and Luxembourg are weak teams because Mali is a force in African football while Luxembourg boasts players in the Belgian and French leagues,” Pinnick told Completesportsnigeria.com.

“Again, we want to build the team gradually by playing some big football nations as well as some weak football nations. We are not going to allow them get bashed anyhow by top teams, they need to get some results to boost their confidence and progress. Nigerians will appreciate what we are doing now very soon.
“Our agent is working tirelessly to get us a couple of top ranked teams in the next FIFA window. The coaches have been given a mandate to build a good team that will not only qualify for the World Cup but be the pride of the nation.”

On the issue of foreign coach, the NFF boss said that the federation has been working tirelessly to ensure that they get sponsors who will pay the wages of the coaches among other things, adding that they are also looking for sponsors or their other programmes.