OKPALA HAILS NFF FOR ARGENTINA MATCH

 
Sylvanus Okpala, the ex international who warned that Nigeria Football Federation would be doing a stupid thing to cancel the contract to play Argentina has commended them for toeing the part of reason.

NFF said Tuesday night that they would honour the match. Organisers will send a chartered aircraft to lift the Eagles from Madagascar  to Bangladesh, venue of the friendly international scheduled four days after the September 3 Nations Cup qualifier.

Some highly respected Nigerians had asked the leadership of the federation not to court the wrath of Nigerian fans by playing and losing to Argentina after the 4-1  victory in Abuja June 1.

They almost succeeded but the NFF saw greater reason in playing the match. Said Okpala:

'NFF has shown that they can listen. I wonder why they even considered withdrawing because of some perceived criticisms or allegations. If Everybody is saying good things about you, then know that something is wrong somewhere.

There must be criticisms for one to succeed. They should not, therefore, be afraid of criticisms. They are building a team and it takes about four stages to build a solid team. They are still in stage one of their transition and should welcome criticisms. They should, therefore, not be afraid of criticisms that will follow if they lose.

Win or lose they have things to learn. We are not flexing muscles with Argentina and can play them four times in a year if possible.   People  against the match don't know football. Friendlies are to develop ideas and we learn everyday.

If we lose, we'll  learn from our mistakes. If we win, there will  still be something to learn. You can't get everything right in a game, so let's play more.

Again, the federation will make money and they need money to run football. I commend the federation for taking that decision. I have also read Siasia's comments on the match. His confidence is growing. It's all good for the team.'