Super Eagles to meet La Albiceleste in friendly match

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is planning an international friendly on November 14, between the Super Eagles and La Albiceleste of Argentina, subject to FIFA’s approval.

Nigeria have had past friendly encounters with Argentina in 2011, with the matches held in Abuja, which ended 4-1 in Eagles’ favour, and return match, which took place in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s, where the Argentines revenged their earlier loss winning 3-1.

According to the NFF’s General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, the match fixed for the Russian city of Krasnodar, will see the three-time African champions and two-time world champions slug it out in the high-profile game.

He said all arrangements have been concluded with regards to the big match and agreeable flight arrangements. “We have had long and fruitful talks, and we can say that we have an agreement. We await the approval by FIFA and also, we have to agree on the flight arrangements that would be comfortable for the players and crew.

“The match will come up on November 14th, four days after the Super Eagles’ final 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying match away to Algeria. We had offers from teams like Iran, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, but we have opted for the Argentines,” Sanusi said.

The NFF’s FIFA Match Agent, Jairo Pachon of Eurodata Sport, who also organised the friendly matches with the Argentines in 2011, and has been working hard for various Nigerian national teams in the areas of training camps and friendly games since 2009, told thenff.com: “We are very pleased to be able to deliver such a high-profile game to celebrate the Super Eagles’ 2018 World Cup qualification.

“It was a lot of work over the past weeks, but we are happy this has become reality. We will, in due course, reveal the Nigerian sponsor of the match, who will have the match rights in Nigeria.”

While Argentina qualified for Russia on the final day of the South American qualification campaign, Nigeria sealed her place with one outstanding.