Saturday’s friendly between Emmanuel Amuneke’s Golden Eaglets of Nigeria U-17 and their South African counterparts may be played in Abuja after the visitors expressed fears over the security situation in the Northern Nigerian town of Kaduna.
The match, which was aimed at preparing both Nigeria and South Africa for next month’s African U17 Championship in Niger, had been fixed to be played at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna.
However, it was specially gathered that the South Africa Football Federation (SAFA) had since asked that the match be played in Abuja because they fear for their team’s safety in Kaduna, which is about 200 kilometres from the country’s capital city.
“The match is now most likely to be played in Abuja after the fears raised by the South Africans,” a top official informed.
Last week, the South Africa Amajimbos drew 1-1 with Zambia in another warm-up match. Zambia is in the same first round group with Nigeria’s Eaglets.