The President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has assured football followers that Coach Stephen Keshi will be independent in selecting players for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Different reports emanating from Abuja says the non-inclusion of experienced players in the 38-man provisional list submitted by Coach Stephen Keshi to the Nigeria Football Federation last week is the reason behind the delay in its announcement.
President of the NFF, Aminu Maigari says they are responsible for the selection of players for the national coaches on any international competition.
“We don’t impose players on coaches but we advise where it is necessary. The coaches are free to select their players because we don’t apply pressure on them. We give them free hand to select the best players for Nigeria.”
As the waiting game continues, a member of the Technical Committee, Paul Bassey is confident that the list will be out before FIFA’s deadline date.
“We looked at the media, most especially the confusing list published, and we are using this opportunity to plead with the media to wait for the authentic list of the players to be released by the Football Federation before it is published.”
Bassey stated, “We have decided to shelve the release of the list to coach Keshi for more consultations. First of all we are not in a hurry to release the list.
May 10, is the deadline date for countries to submit their world cup list to FIFA.
