Sports minister unaware of Super Sand Eagles lack of preparation

The Sports minister, Barrister Solomon Dalung, needed a Twitter user to inform him that the Beach soccer team, also known as the Super Sand Eagles, are not in camp two weeks to the Beach soccer Africa Cup of Nations.

The Beach Soccer team under the aegis of the Nigeria Football Federation should have been in camp in preparation for the 2018 Beach Soccer AFCON which kicks off on December 9 in Giza, Egypt.

Nzenwugo with the handle @Emekaonuka1 tweeted: “@SolomonDaling @nnekaikem1 Nigeria is on the verge of being disgraced. Beach soccer Africa cup of nations is in fourteen days and the team is not in camp. Nigeria is already in the roster. Please act fast!”

In his response to the tweet by Nzenwugo, Dalung thanked the user for his “sport whistle blowing”, he vowed to ” take it up” before he noted that it was the type of partnership that develops sports.

“Thank you for this sport whistle blowing, I will take it up from here. This is the type of partnership that develops sports”

While the Sports minister was ignorant of the situation, he should have been properly informed on, the NFF have not released any plans for the camping and travel of the beach soccer team.

Beach soccer superstar Abu Azeez yesterday teased at the possibility of a major embarrassment due to the lack of preparation on his verified Twitter page. He tweeted “12 days to go…….i laugh in gbe se,” loosely translated as 12 days to go……. I laugh at the brewing trouble.

He also hinted at the possibility of the Super Sand Eagles not being properly kitted for their travel to Egypt.

“Make i put my agbada for bag incase dem say no kits to travel……”

The Super Sand Eagles are grouped alongside defending champions Senegal,  Libya and Tanzania for the five-day tournament.

Nigeria are two-time Beach Soccer AFCON champions. They won the tournament in 2007 and 2009 both when it was hosted in South Africa.

The winner and runner-up of the AFCON will qualify for the 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup which will be hosted by Paraguay.