Sports Keshi did not submit any World Cup list to the NFF

[Chris Maduewesi]

According to a report on Vanguard Sports,what stopped the release of Nigeria's provisional 2014 World Cup list was the unpreparedness of Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi to draw up his final list for the tournament.

It is understood that the NFF and Keshi jointly agreed to come up with statements about pruning down the list from 38 to 30 players to sound like they are on the same page.

But in reality,Keshi did not provide any list during the meeting with the technical committee of the NFF on Tuesday,much to the ire of the federation.

The Nigerian coach is said to be protecting his interest,as he does not want his list to be tampered with when he releases it,which explains the delay.

“Keshi did not submit any list. He pleaded for time. Everybody was shocked. The whole country knew of April 22 date and now he says the list is not ready on the grounds that he was still making last minute search for players,” a source close to the Technical Committee said, adding that “the committee was totally disappointed that Keshi wasted their time, money and energy by coming without the list. He could have informed the federation in time that his list was not ready and the meeting could have been rescheduled. He did not show respect to the federation.”

However people from Keshi's camp confirmed that he went into the meeting with World Cup preparations on his mind,rather than submitting his provisional list.

“Keshi went to the meeting with preparation more in his mind than a list everybody thought would be submitted in good time,”a source was quoted as saying on Vanguard.

A provisional list of 30 players that would be invited for camping is expected to be released next week by the federation.