Nigeria has joined Ghana in avoiding friendly internationals in London due to stringent visa requirements to enter the United Kingdom.
The Super Eagles will join the Black Stars in playing their subsequent friendlies in Schengen states which provides flexible ways in acquiring visas for sides playing matches in their countries.
The decision was reached by the Nigeria Football Federation after the country’s game against Burkina Faso scheduled for Monday in London was cancelled because of delays in acquiring visas.
Nigeria is following the footsteps of Ghana who had previously used London as their base but visa delays and the expensive nature of hosting the matches in the English capital have resulted in the Black Stars opting for French cities.
Burkina Faso, the third-placed finisher at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, had been expected to provide stiff opposition for Gernot Rohr’s team as it builds towards FIFA 2018 World Cup qualifiers in August and September against Cameroon.
But seven Burkina Faso players failed to secure visas so Nigeria held a training game among its own squad at The Hive, home of English League Two club Barnet.
Nigeria coach, Gernot Rohr, claimed the Eagles will avoid future friendly internationals in London.
“I think it’s better to stay in Schengen, in Europe than go to London where the people have problems. Even some players in our team couldn’t come, you know. They didn’t get the visa in time.”
Rohr pointed out the positive aspects of Nigeria’s short trip to London, though, noting that the training exercise had allowed him to make a fuller evaluation of his squad.
“We tried to find another team but it was too late,” the German said. “We had one very good game against a Senegal team [that was] so strong, so powerful, we learned a lot. Now we look forwards to our next games.
