By  Jacob  Ajom
The Nigeria Football Federation has apologised to Super Eagles’ teeming fans across the world and to the Nigerian government in particular for the embarrassment caused by the botched Green Bowl Soccer Tournament in the USA but insisted that good reason should prevail when its role is being examined in the entire saga.

Obama tourney

Speaking on telephone with our correspondent Sunday, chairman of the technical committee Barrister Chris Green said, “we are sorry for all that happened. We are sorry to the people of Nigeria and indeed, the government of Nigeria over the entire episode. It was not our fault and every step would be taken to ensure every kobo spent on the trip is refunded.”

He said the organisers of the botched tournament only informed them that it had been postponed on arrival. “We told them we were no longer interested. We will put up our demands and ensure we get back whatever was spent on the trip,” he assured, adding apologetically, “we are sorry.”

Green said he was confident the US Soccer Federation and FIFA would assist the NFF in ensuring the they(NFF) were adequately compensated as the organisers were FIFA licenced and had deposited $1million US Dollars with the US Soccer Federation.

Financially, Nigeria will not lose anything,” he assured.

The technical committee chairman said the players will remain in camp as soon as the team returned to Nigeria. “We want the players to be in camp for a long time because we want them to know each other, blend and keep the coaches up and about. The coaches will continue with the players dropping those found to be wanting and bringing in new ones.

We will continue arranging friendly matches on FIFA free days with some of our West African neighbours while they play in the African Nations Cup qualifiers.”

NFF furious at Green Bowl Tourney fiasco, reports agent to FIFA

However the Nigeria Football Federation has expressed its indignation at the embarrassment caused Nigeria by the postponement of the 2011 United States’ President’s Holiday Celebration Soccer Tournament (a.k.a Green Bowl Soccer Tournament), after the national football team had arrived in the USA for the tournament.

NFF President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari lambasted the organizer of the tournament, US-based Nigerian FIFA Licensed Agent, Pius Oleh and instructed the NFF Secretariat to make a detailed report of the fiasco to world football –governing body, FIFA.

“This is untenable. How can he tell us that there was a ticketing problem after our team had travelled that long distance to play? How can he tell us that he did not know there was a problem until our national team arrived in America?

“This is totally irresponsible on his part. How come he did not ensure that everything was perfected before telling our team to start coming? We are not going to take this lightly.

“We will get all the documents that have to do with the tournament, all the agreements we had with him along the way and send these to FIFA”, said Maigari.

The Nigeria delegation, made up of 20 players and nine officials, and led by Member of the NFF Executive Committee, Barrister Olaleye Adepoju flew 11 hours from Lagos to Atlanta overnight on Wednesday, February 23 and then connected Dallas, Texas believing it would take part in a four_nation US President’s Holiday Celebration Soccer Tournament packaged by America_based Nigerian Pius Oleh, who already had the go_ahead of the United States Football Federation for the event.

However, the delegation was shocked beyond words when Oleh called to inform them that they were having problem with the Ticket Master and that the competition would have to be postponed by two weeks.

Oleh also changed the plan for accommodation, directing the Nigeria team to the Marriott Courtyard instead of the Double Tree, and then failed to show up to meet with the team until the following day.

Head Coach Samson Siasia, who has long been resident in the United States and whose family lives there, made spirited efforts to arrange friendly games so the trip would not be a total waste, but the complications of getting such games approved at short notice and the requirements to secure permission for use of stadium stalled the efforts.

In his own defence of what happened, Oleh said on the telephone that he had everything tidied up until the problem with the Ticket Master cropped up on Thursday evening.

“I am embarrassed myself at what has happened, but the truth is that we had everything keyed and the teams had been informed to start coming, before the Ticket Master developed problem. It was not something that anyone could do anything about at such short notice. It was not something we could have envisaged, having done all that was required to get things right.

“We had the approval of the United States Soccer Federation and letters of commitment from the countries involved. We had invested a lot of resources and energy into making this happen and honestly, I am devastated. But I am more worried about the fact that the Nigeria team had arrived for the tournament.

“The tournament was never a joke; it was something we worked very hard to realize. I know people will feel very bad about the Super Eagles having travelled that long distance but the truth is, we discovered ONLY AFTER they had arrived in the US. The other teams involved (Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica) were only a couple of hours away from the US and were to fly into town on the Thursday that we discovered, so they cancelled their flight. But Nigeria is far away and the team had to leave earlier.

“I am saddened by this, but there was never anything one could have done about it. We can’t allow the tournament to go ahead without tickets. We had not collected any money from anyone for any aspect of the tournament, so you cannot call this a scam.

“Games get cancelled here and again, but I know the Nigeria federation will feel very strongly about this because they were earlier to play Guatemala here and that also didn’t work out. It is a pretty bad situation but we should leave this behind us and move ahead.

“Surely, the tournament will take place in two weeks”, said Oleh.

NFF President Aminu Maigari, who cancelled his scheduled trip on Friday alongside that of chairman of technical committee, Barrister Christopher Green, said the Nigeria team will definitely not be available for the new date.

“Pius Oleh will first have to account to FIFA on this embarrassment. We have no business with him concerning any new date. He should be ready to offset all our expenses and also pay compensation. Let him play his tournament with any teams he wants.

“All the same, we apologize to Nigerians and the Government for this unfortunate incident”, stated Maigari.
Maigari on Saturday instructed team officials to harness efforts at getting seats on the Delta Airline flight from Atlanta to Lagos on Sunday, for the team to return home. The Super Eagles had trained on Friday and Saturday at a facility close to their Marriott Courtyard hotel.