NFF Confirms Super Eagles Friendly With Bafana Bafana In Nelspruit

The Nigeria Football Federation on Friday announced that the Senior National Team, Super Eagles, would play a friendly game against the Bafana Bafana of South Africa on March 29.

The match comes a little over four months after a 2-2 draw in Uyo between the two teams which kept Nigeria out of the 30th Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals in Equatorial Guinea.

The South African team, however, endured a tough AFCON tournament, failing to qualify from the group stage although they did well during the qualifying series en-route to the AFCON 2015.

NFF in a statement said the friendly match between the two countries would take place at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit.

It said that the venue had hosted Nigeria’s first two matches at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, recording two 1-1 draw against Burkina Faso and Zambia.

“Both teams will use the platform to prepare for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying series,’’ NFF said.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Henry Nwosu, Nigeria’s ex-international, described the proposed friendly match as “a good development’’, adding that Bafana Bafana are no push over in football.

He said that, Bafana Bafana had proved their capabilities prior to the 2015 edition of the Africa Football Cup in Equatorial Guinea.

“It is a great development, Bafana Bafana will give Super Eagles a good match because they are a good side with quality players.

“However, the question is under who Super Eagles will be playing in South Africa and which players will be paraded on that day.

“The NFF needs to put its house in order as regards the Eagles coach and also state the players that will be filing out on that day. (NAN)