Nigeria reverses Super Eagles ban
President Goodluck Jonathan pulls U-turn while Dunga is sacked as Brazil coach..
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| Obafemi Martins trudges off after elimination from the group stage [GALLO/GETTY] |
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan reversed a ban on the national football team taking part in international matches, hours before a threatened suspension by world governing body Fifa.
“The ban has been reversed. The reversal was due to pleading by many Nigerians,” a source in the Nigerian presidency said, asking not to be named.
Jonathan last week suspended the team from international competitions for two years following an embarrassing performance in the World Cup.
The Super Eagles were knocked out in the first round after failing to win a game.
Fifa had given Nigeria until Monday evening to change its decision and escape being barred from all Fifa-related activities.
The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) on Sunday fired its top two officials and offered an “unreserved apology” for the team’s dismal performance in a last-minute bid to reverse Jonathan’s directive.
Dunga sacked
Meanwhile Brazil coach Dunga and his entire coaching staff were sacked following the team’s quarter-final exit from the World Cup.
The Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) released a statement on Sunday confirming the dismissals.
“With the closing of the work cycle that started in August 2006 and ended with the elimination of Brazil from the World Cup in South Africa, the CBF announces the dismissal of the Technical Commission of the Brazilian team,” the statement read.
Dunga, 46, had already indicated after his team’s surprise 2-1 quarter-final loss to the Netherlands that he would be stepping down after four years in the job.
Dunga replaced Carlos Alberto Parreira in July 2006, immediately after the last World Cup.
A hard-tackling midfielder in his playing days, Dunga captained the Brazil team that won the 1994 World Cup and finished runners-up four years later, but was a surprise choice as coach, having had no previous coaching experience.
Despite that, he led Brazil to the Copa America in 2007, the Confederations Cup in 2009 and top of the South American World Cup qualifying group before it all came crashing down with the loss to the Dutch in Port Elizabeth.
The CBF said in their statement that a new coach would be installed by the end of the month.
Brazil are due to play the United States at the new Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey in August and have a busy schedule over the next few years, including hosting the Confederations Cup in 2013 and the World Cup in 2014.