NFF Under Pinnick Has Done Amazingly Well – Mikel

FRANCIS ACHI/St.Petersburg, Russia

Gernot Rohr, Super Eagles TM (left) and Mikel Obi 

At a time when some aggrieved football stakeholders are already pointing accusing fingers at the Amaju Pinnick led board of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF for the failure of the Super Eagles to scale through the first round of the on-going FIFA World Cup in Russia, Mikel Obi , the captain of the team has exonerated the NFF from any blame.

To Mikel, this present board have done amazingly well.

Mikel, 31, who have spent over 12 years in the senior national team,  said that this present board of the NFF is the best he has seen since he joined the national team, stressing further that it was very unfortunate that the team, which is mainly made of young players failed to qualify for the second round of the World Cup , but there is no denying the fact that the players gave their all at the three games the team played at the tournament. He said that the NFF stood by them, giving the team strong pillars of support in terms of quality friendly games and other essential arrangements for preparations before and during the tournament itself .

“Like I always said and as the captain of this team, I think this NFF regime is the best I have seen since my days in the national team especially in the areas of travel arrangements and preparation of the team for this world Cup. We travelled with good airplanes , which we were not doing in the past. The safety and the welfare of the players are very important and this NFF regime is the best in these aspects, ” Mikel said.

“This team did not have any problem of bonuses , allowances with the NFF and I want to say that the NFF has done amazingly well with the Super Eagles,” he added.

” I think this team will be better in the next four years if we manage to qualify for the next World Cup. The NFF did amazingly well for this team and it is sad that the team failed to go through the first round of this World Cup. It has been a fantastic journey with this NFF and there are no complaints anywhere from the players as witnessed in the past.

“The World Cup is the biggest stage of football and I am certain that the players have gained vital experience that will help the progress of the national team in future games and tournaments,” he said.

PM EXPRESS can report that the Super Eagles have since arrived Nigeria and the camp disbanded until when the team will reconvene for the Africa Nations Cup qualifiers in September, but the future of Gernot Rohr is not certain as there have been calls from some critics that the German should  be relieved of his duties as the Technical Adviser due to his tactical naivety that caused the team from progressing to the second round of the Russia 2018 World Cup.