EAGLES MAY STILL PLUMMET IN FIFA RANKING - NFF

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has told Nigerians who are lamenting the free-fall of Nigerian football in the Coca-Cola FIFA world ranking to expect more drops in the nearest future, stressing that the Glass House was not surprised with the current rating, which placed Nigeria at the 60th position in the world.

Reacting to the current ranking while speaking to Daily Sunsports, the General Secretary of NFF, Barrister Musa Amadu, expressed disappointment over the feeling of most Nigerians concerning the ranking. He lamented that Nigerians had failed to understand that the fall was expected.

While attributing the fall to the failure of the Super Eagles to participate in the January 2012 African Nations Cup, the chief scribe argued that with the Ukraine Euro 2012 tournament underway, Nigerians should expect more falls, even as he added that the ranking does not reflect the true form and strength of the country.

'I want to say that we are putting so much emphasis on the FIFA world ranking. We must have it at the back of our minds that we did not qualify for the 2012 African Nations Cup and that took a very hard knock on our world ranking.

'We should also be aware that in a couple of months, the situation might even get worst because the Ukraine Euro 2012 tournament will soon get underway. The participating teams will obviously be ranked ahead of Nigeria.

'The important thing is to find out what is our standing relative to other countries in Africa that were ranked above Nigeria.

'It is a fact that Zambia, the current African champion, is not better than Nigeria. No other country ranked above us is better than Nigeria.

'Let us not concentrate or be walked up because of the world rankings. What is important is for us to focus on the particular projects we have in mind, which include to qualify for the 2013 African Cup of Nations, 2014 World Cup and also, to play strong oppositions in friendly matches in the coming months to see how strong we are as a country.

'I think we should focus more on the rebuilding project of the Super Eagles and the qualifiers instead of bugging ourselves down with the world rankings. In most cases, those rankings do not reflect how strong a country is in world football,' he argued.