NFF, Eagles want Gabon friendly before Peru

NATIONAL team handlers, alongside the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) are working on the possibility of playing the friendly game against Gabon before the team travels to Lima, Peru, for another international game against the Peruvian national side.According to Super Eagles' Media Officer, Ben Alaiya, the game against Gabon, which is at the behest of the Gabonese President, Ali Bongo, has been scheduled to come after the match in Lima, but the NFF officials prefer to have it before that game due to the proximity of the matches before the country's first World Cup qualifier.He said the venue and date of the game with Gabon have not been finalised and that the information would only be available when the deal is done. Speaking on the games, Super Eagles' coach, Stephen Keshi, described both matches as important, adding, however, that they must not be played too close to the Nations Cup and World Cup qualifiers scheduled for the first week of June.Meanwhile, Keshi says he is not worried by the difficulty in getting Germany-born star, Sidney Sam, to pledge his loyalty to Nigeria ahead of the Nations Cup and World Cup qualifiers in June.Speaking from his United States (U.S.) base on Tuesday evening, Keshi said that trying to track down Sam, who plays for German Bundesliga side, Bayern Leverkusen, has been a Herculean task, adding that he has left the decision to either play for Nigeria or not to the player.'I have called Sam over 15 times and each time the phone dovetails into voice mail and I have always left a message, but the player has not responded to any of my messages. That, to me, is shocking and says a lot about his readiness or otherwise to play for the Super Eagles,' Keshi said.
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