India invites Eagles for Nehru Cup

Posted by admin Headlines, Soccer, Sports Thursday, June 14th, 2012

June 15, 2012 by Kazeem Busari

The All India Football Federation has invited the Super Eagles to feature in a six-nation Nehru Cup competition scheduled to hold in New Delhi between August 16 and 26.

The 15th edition of the tournament is organised as part of All India Football Federation’s platinum jubilee celebrations and is expected to Cost Rica and Jordan.

AIFF general secretary Kushal Das told The Telegraph, “We haven’t finalised yet whether the Nehru Cup would be a five-team or six-team affair. But some high profile teams would be involved. While Nigeria have shown keen interest, we are also in talks with Jordan, Thailand, Malaysia, Costa Rica and Afghanistan. A clear picture should emerge in the next couple of weeks.”

Uruguay were the champions of the maiden edition when it began in 1982 but hosts India are the defending champions after beating Syria in the final in 2009.

An official of the Nigeria Football Federation confirmed on Wednesday that Nigeria were in talks with the AIFF on the competition but added nothing had been concluded.

“There is a letter from India but the board has yet to discuss on Nigeria’s participation in the competition,” the NFF official said.

“The NFF is interested in giving more opportunities to the Eagles to improve but we don’t want these to affect the programme on ground. It will be a good time for coach Stephen Keshi to assess the players from the domestic league.”

He added that the period scheduled for the competition might not be convenient for Nigeria’s foreign-based professionals who would have started the new season with their clubs.

-Punchwp_posts