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| Nigeria did manage to play a friendly against Senegal in London last week. Getty Images |
The coach of Nigeria's
national football team has said the country could stop playing friendlies in
the UK after visa problems prevented one of their matches this week, AFP news
agency reports.
BBC
Africa Live report continues:
Gernot
Rohr's comments come after the Super Eagles' match against Burkina Faso, due to
take place in London two days ago, had to be called off (SEE EMBEDDED STORY) after
several Burkina Faso players failed to gain visas to enter the UK.
Rohr
said some of his players had also been affected and been unable to get to
London.
AFP
quotes him as saying that "it's better to stay in Schengen, in Europe,
than go to London where the people have problems".
The
UK is not part of the Schengen travel area, a multinational European zone in
which there are no internal border checks and travellers need only a single
visa to enter.
Nigeria Friendly
With Burkina Faso Cancelled
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The
Burkina Faso team whose friendly against Nigeria on Monday has been cancelled.
|
BBC
Africa Sport reports that Nigeria's friendly with Burkina Faso on Monday in
London has been called off after several Burkina Faso players failed to gain
visas to enter the UK.
According
to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) "seven players in the Burkinabe
contingent failed to secure entry visas into the United Kingdom".
The
match was scheduled as part of Nigeria's build-up for the 2019 Africa Cup of
Nations qualifier against South Africa in June and the World Cup qualifier
against Cameroon later in the year.
"The
match in question is called off due to no fault of either the organisers or the
Nigeria Football Federation. We will announce further plans for the Super
Eagles' preparation for these two important qualifying campaigns in due
course," top NFF official Chris Green said.
The
Super Eagles drew 1-1 with Senegal on Thursday night after Kelechi Iheanacho's
late penalty cancelled out Moussa Sow's opening goal at the Hive, home of English
fourth tier side Barnet.
The
NFF say they are "extremely disappointed" the match on Monday has
been called off but insist that the "objectives of satisfying the
technical team's desire of squaring up against tough, physical African
opposition and fostering team bonding and organization were achieved".
"There
is no British Embassy in Ouagadougou, and officials of the Federation Burkinabe
de Football had been shuttling between Accra and Ouagadougou for visa
processing," the NFF explained in a statement.
"FBF
(Burkina Faso Football Federation) sources said the Embassy in Accra told them
last week to proceed to Morocco (where The Stallions played the Atlas Lions on
Friday) and that the visas would be issued there.
"However,
the applications were still pending at the British Embassy in Morocco as at
close of work on Friday, the last working day before match day in London.
"The
Burkinabe Football Federation - on Friday 24 March 2017 by 7pm UK time -
telephoned the match organizers [Eurodata] to say some of their players and
officials were unable to secure entry visas into the United Kingdom and
therefore would not be able to honour the match."
Three-time
African champions Nigeria have failed to qualify for the last two editions of
the Africa Cup of Nations.
But
under new manager Gernot Rohr, who took charge in August, the Super Eagles got
off to a flying start in their 2018 World Cup qualifiers, recording a 2-1 win
in Zambia and a 3-1 victory at home against Algeria.
Nigeria's
six points, coupled with some surprising results in the other games, leaves
them with an early four-point lead in their 2018 World Cup qualifying group
ahead of Cameroon and Zambia.
Burkina Faso finished third at the recent Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon and lost 2-0 to Morocco in Friday's friendly.
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