Nigeria’s Special Eagles lose opener – BBC Sport
- By Oluwashina Okeleji
- Football Writer, Barcelona
Nigeria’s amputee football team lost their opening match 6-0 to Brazil at the 2018 World Cup in Mexico on Sunday.
Seven of the the Special Eagles’ squad only landed in the city of San Juan de Los Lagos a few hours before.
The team will play Russia and El Salvador in their their other group matches later this week.
Ghana, Kenya, Liberia and Angola are the continent’s other representatives in Mexico.
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president, Amaju Pinnick, the Super Eagles squad as well as the country’s former vice-president Atiku Abubakar made significant financial contributions to get the squad to the city of San Juan de Los Lagos.
“It’s a dream come true for these players to be at the World Cup after over a decade of training, dreaming and hoping,” co-ordinator of fund-raising, Fred Edoreh, told BBC Sport.
“We thank the NFF president, the Super Eagles, former vice-president Atiku and the general public for their incredible support.”
It has been a tough journey for the team as their bus was involved in an accident en route to the capital Abuja for a visa appointment at the Mexican Embassy two weeks ago.
Angola, Kenya and Ghana represented Africa at the 2014 World Cup in Culiacán, Mexico.
The Angolans finished as runners-up after losing 3-1 to Russia in the final.