Shameful: NFF leaves Kenyan Harambee Stars to train in Oshodi primary school, lodge them in ‘2-star’ hotel (SNAPSHOT)

by Rachel Ogbu

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Kenyan national football team, The Harambee Stars who are currently in the country to play a World Cup qualifying game against the Super Eagles on Saturday are said to be living and training in disappointing conditions.

Reports claim the hospitality is nothing to go by, for one the reception right from the airport upon arrival was cold. The Harambee Stars arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos via a Kenya Airways flight on Wednesday afternoon but not a single top official from the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF was present to welcome them.

The Harambee Stars will play the Super Eagles in Saturday’s 2014 World Cup qualification match in Calabar, Cross River State.

According to reports, the Football Kenya Federation protested against the treatment in a letter to the NFF. In the letter, the federation’s secretary general, Michael Esokwa asked the NFF to adhere to agreed terms and urgently address the needs of the visiting team.

Although some of the visiting players remained cheerful and started training, the pictures from their training location was appalling.

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Goal.com reports:

The Nigeria Football Federation abandoned the visiting Kenyan national team to its fate on Wednesday. The east Africans will play against the Super Eagles in Saturday’s 2014 World Cup qualification match in Calabar, Cross River State.

Expecting to be ferried to Calabar straight away in order to begin preparations for the crucial game, the east Africans were told that the only flight that goes to the city had departed and that they would need to wait till Thursday.

They then requested that a plane be chartered for them but did not get any response from an NFF official named Alataka who was communicating with them via telephone. They said that his mobile was unreachable for prolonged periods.

The team was later taken to the Silver Grandeur Hotel, around Isolo, to lodge for the night. According to the Kenyan head of delegation Hussein Terry, the hotel owned by NFF vice president Chief Mike Umeh is “a two star hotel” and it contravened the Caf/Fifa statutes that say any visiting international team must be accommodated in at least a four star hotel.

Terry also stated that as head of delegation, a separate saloon car should have been provided for him. However, the NFF did not do such and he had to share the team’s Coaster bus.

The Kenyans also complained of being left without a security official accompanying them.

While not wanting to waste the opportunity of acclimatising in the humid weather, they decided to find a football field to work out. They were taken to the Ajao Estate Primary School in Oshodi.

There the team, under the watchful eyes of coach Adel Amrouche, did light jogging and stretching exercises on the dusty grounds of the primary school.

Amrouche later told Goal.com that he wasn’t fazed by the poor reception that his team had been given. “T.I.A,” he said.

“This is Africa,” he explained before walking into the team bus.

With the less than hospitable treatment that the east Africans have been given, many of the team officials are already talking about using it to turn the table against their opponents in Saturday’s encounter.

“We will spoil your party,” one official said. “That you’re the African champions makes us more motivated to defeat you.”

An accompanying journalist told Goal.com: “I love your country if this is how they treat visitors,” he said with sarcasm

The Kenyans will hope to get space on the Arik Air flight that departs for Calabar on Thursday in order to settle down in the Canaan City ahead of their game on Saturday.

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(Photos: H/T to goal.com)

Comments (2)

  1. This is outright wucked! The NFF ExCo’s should be sacked for this preposterous act. Ewoo, I pity these Harambee Kenyans. Had we been treated this way by South African officials would we have lifted the AFCON? This is worse than rape and I hope FIFA sanctions the NFF board.

  2. Nigeria! this is so unfair. We are all Africans for God’s sake. I just pray we don’t lose out.

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