President of the Nigeria Amputee Football Federation, Suleiman Isah has stated that they will do something special for the Special Eagles on their return from the World Cup.
According to Suleiman, the Eagles will be given some stipends to return home, after which a dinner will be organised for them to be celebrated.
“The Special Eagles tried their best during the World Cup in Mexico. They wanted to go past the first round but their dream was cut short,” Suleiman Isah posited to Sports247.ng.
“They were able to learn one or two things from the competition which will be very handy for them.”
“The experience and exposure gained will serve in the best interest of the team in a tournament of such magnitude in the nearest future.”
“The national team players deserve a pat at their back. Something special will be done for them.”
Suleiman Isah added, “The Special Eagles will be given some amount of money to go back to their various destinations. They will be hosted to a Dinner at a yet to be announced date.”
Despite rallying to their first win against El Salvador at the Amputee Football World Cup, the Nigeria Amputee team lost out of the four best losers to join group leaders to proceed to the round of 16, due to heavy goals difference.
The Nigerians recovered from the effects of their funding difficulties and late arrival to register a 1-0 win over El Salvador in their third group game but their opening 0-6 and 0-3 defeats to Copa America champions, Brazil, and defending world champions, Russia in Group E left them with a huge goals margin of minus eight, disadvantaging in the contention for the best losers slot.
Just when the team showed signs of recovery, their circumstances was made more difficult by the non appearance of Ghana and discontinuation of Liberia which gave advantage of free three points and three goals to contenders in Groups B and F, to better their goals differences.
The “Special Eagles” marked the first appearance in the World Cup after failing to attend three previous editions due to lack of funds. They were on the verge of missing out of the 4th chance with the risk of suspension from the event and other global amputee football activities but for the intervention of former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, the Nigeria Football Federation, the Super Eagles of Nigeria, Mikel Obi and donations by Nigeria following a public appeal.
The intervention however came a little late in the day such that the team was further confronted with issues of flight space, exorbitant tickets and non possession of transit European and United States visas, for which they had to journey through the over 55 hours alternative route of South American countries with the main team arriving just a few hours to their first game and filing out the next day against the defending champions.
