NIGERIANS resident in Dallas, Texas, stormed the Double Tree Hotel en masse yesterday to receive players and officials of the Super Eagles as the delegation landed in the United States (U.S.).

The team, comprising 20 players and nine officials and led by a Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) executive committee member, Olaleye Adepoju, will play two matches in the invitational United States President’s Holiday Celebration Soccer Tournament – the Green Bowl Soccer Tournament – holding at the Cotton Bowl Soccer Stadium this weekend.

The Delta Airline flight from Lagos had a few hours stopover in Atlanta, Georgia, before connecting the Texas State capital. The Super Eagles, with coach Samson Siasia directing affairs, will take to the pitch against its Mexican counterparts at the Cotton Bowl tomorrow at 7p.m (1a.m, Sunday in Nigeria) and the result will determine whether it plays the loser’s final or final match on Sunday at the same venue.

Costa Rica and Panama would play the first game of the two double-headers tomorrow at 4.30p.m (10.30p.m, tomorrow in Nigeria). The loser’s final holds from 4.30p.m Sunday (10.30p.m, Sunday in Nigeria) with the final starting at 7p.m Sunday (1a.m, Monday in Nigeria).

Siasia has expressed delight at the eventual staging of the tournament, which had to be whittled down from eight-nation to four-nation, saying it would help his team’s re-building and re-tooling ahead of the 2012 African Nations Cup qualifier against Ethiopia on March 27.

-Guardian

Posted by admin on Feb 24 2011. Filed under Headlines, Soccer, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry