…No, It Was A Misunderstanding – NFF

By Amaechi Agbo

There was confusion and drama at the Eko Hotel, Lagos, venue of the Super Eagles camp for the 2022 World Cup qualifying matches against Liberia and Cape Verde as the players and officials were reportedly thrown out of the gym centre of the hotel and barred from using it on Monday, www.bestchoicesports.com.ng can report.

The players went to the gym to commence their fitness and first training session ahead of the Fifa World Cup Qualifiers, half way into it, the management of the hotel ordered them out.

According to the hotel management, the hotel’s gym wasn’t exclusively reserved for the team. The situation almost got out of hand as the players and the hotel manager exchanged unprintable words.

All attempts by the Super Eagles security details to allow the team use the gym fell on deaf ears.

A video clip obtained by our Correspondent showed where the team’s officials and the hotel management were exchanging words with the Nigerian officials asking the management while they locked out the team from using the gym

No, It Was A Distraction, Team Not Thrown Out – NFF

Reacting to the development, the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF has “debunked” the story describing the situation as a “distraction” adding that the team were not thrown out of the gym as “erroneously” reported.

According to the Media Officer of the Super Eagles, Babafemi Raji who was present at the gym session, he said it was a minor misunderstanding between an assistant manager at the hotel and his members of staff on the usage of the gym facilities.

Adding that some team officials had to get involved as the manager’s action caused a huge distraction to the team’s training.

“We were scheduled to train just within the hotel with the gym session coming first then the outdoor volley session next. However, just as we wrapped up the gym session, one of the hotel managers came in to inspect and while the team trained at a section of the gym just doing light stretches, he yelled at his members of staff and that caused a distraction to the team’s session which, although light, required concentration.

“While the back and forth between the manager of the hotel, his staff and some officials of the Super Eagles was on, the gym session continued and lasted 45 minutes, which was 15 minutes more than the earlier scheduled 30 minutes, coach of the team, Gernot Rohr called the entire team together to give instructions on the next session which was the volley outdoor session”, Raji said.

www.bestchoicesports.com.ng reports that at the time of the fracas, 15 players were involved in the training on Monday evening as camp continues to build up ahead of the game against Liberia on September 3, 2021.

As at the time of this report, a total of 24 players are in camp ahead of their first match second round Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifier against Liberia in Lagos this Friday.