Falconets ‘stranded’ after World Cup elimination; NFF shifts blame

After being eradicated from the FIFA U-20 Ladies’s World Cup, Nigeria’s U-20 Ladies’s group, the Falconets, have been sentenced to a torturous journey again to the nation from Costa Rica.

After displaying a lot promise profitable all three group video games in opposition to France, South Korea and Canada, the Falconets fell quick within the quarter-final as they misplaced 2-0 to the Netherlands in a match that ended early Monday morning.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered the Falconets needed to depart Costa Rica virtually instantly after their elimination at about 6.30 am Monday.

Nevertheless, after greater than 48 hours on a journey that ought to have been accomplished in a day or lower than two days, the Falconets are nonetheless 1000’s of miles away from dwelling.

Saddening revelations

In accordance with Colin Udoh, a former Tremendous Eagles media officer and committee member with the Nigeria Soccer Federation, the Falconets have been going by means of hell of their bid to symbolize their fatherland, regardless of their valiant efficiency on the pitch.

On a Twitter thread that has since gone viral, Mr Udoh revealed Tuesday morning how the Falconets have been stranded in Turkey, on the Istanbul airport on a 24-hour layover. He confirmed images of the nationwide group gamers sleeping on airport benches and on the ground of the biting chilly airport.

He stated that was simply the newest in a litany of troubles the group has confronted whereas competing on the event.

“We’ve been on a visit to Nigeria since 6:30 am Monday. We’re at the moment sleeping on the Istanbul Airport awaiting a 6 pm Wednesday flight, Istanbul time to Abuja,” a participant supply was quoted as saying in Mr Udoh’s Twitter thread.

“The thread continued: In accordance with group officers, their tickets have been booked for Tuesday night on Avianca.

“However the Colombian flag provider re-booked the group on Turkish Air, resulting in a four-hour delay in Colombia. That, coupled with a cease in Panama, meant the group missed their Tuesday connection flight.

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“NFF’s Chief of Delegation Ruth David tried in useless to ask the airline for lodging, however with out transit visas, the pleas completed nothing and that pressured the group to spend 24 hours on the airport awaiting their connecting flight to Abuja.”

There’s hope for the Falconets to get to Nigeria about midnight or thereabout.

Response

The Nigeria Football Federation, who in partnership with Air Peace, ensures the Tremendous Eagles use chartered flights each time they’re taking part in, has since launched a press release suggesting they have been to not blame for the Falconets’ avoidable predicaments.

The NFF defined that a number of components, together with the lack to safe transit visas for gamers and officers of the U20 Ladies Nationwide Crew, Falconets, on the Istanbul Airport, led to the group having to remain 24 hours on the airport in Turkey on their means from the FIFA U20 Ladies’s World Cup.

“The NFF didn’t ebook the group’s tickets from Costa Rica; FIFA did. FIFA additionally didn’t envisage the hitches that noticed the group delayed for greater than three hours in Bogota, and one other one hour in Panama. By the point the group bought to Istanbul, the flight to Abuja had left.

“Our officers pleaded for compassionate transit visas in order to take the gamers and officers to a lodge contained in the city, however this was not doable as they have been knowledgeable that Nigeria had been faraway from the checklist of nations whose residents have been issued visa-on-arrival in Turkey. The airline then took the group to a sleeping space on the airport and gave them tickets to have meals each 5 hours. This example has nothing to do with NFF, who had made preparations to obtain the group in Abuja earlier than the issues in journey preparations,” NFF Common Secretary, Mohammed Sanusi, defined.

The NFF had pleaded with FIFA to intervene with the German Embassy to challenge the group transit visas earlier than their departure from Nigeria, to ensure that the group to have the ability to journey by means of Germany. This didn’t occur.

On the problem of physique put on, Mr Sanusi stated: “The gamers have been handed three units of inexperienced jerseys and two units of white jerseys, a number of house-wear varieties and coaching jerseys. The gamers opted to clean solely their jersey prime (no different stuff) as a result of when the primary set of body-wear was despatched to the laundry folks on the lodge, it returned with some FIFA and NFF badges on the entrance and names on the again peeled by the machine.”