TheCable

Ahead of Saturday’s clash, the officials of the Federation Beninoise de Football have barred Nigerian journalists — including TheCable’s reporter — from covering the Super Eagles training.

The three-time African champion trained without the floodlights at the State Charles de Gaulle on Friday evening.

In apparent continuance of their antics to derail the Eagles who top group L with eight points heading into the matchday 5 of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers, the federation also refused to allow the journalists into the training ground.

An unidentified man, who donned the Beninoise’s jersey at the stadium, kept shouting angrily at the journalists at the gate, saying that that none of them “will be allowed in no matter what they say or do.”

“No journalist will be allowed into this stadium to watch the Eagles train. I don’t care,” he said.

“We came to your country, our plane hung in the air for hours and you are coming here again boasting of taking all three points, it is not going to be possible.

“We will so beat you that all of you will cry back to Nigeria. If you like sleep at the gate, this gate will not be opened for all of you.”

One of the Super Eagles officials told TheCable that the federation is bittered because the Confederation of African Football (CAF) denied their request to have three thousand five hundred fans at the match venue on Saturday.

“They are acting the way they are right now because we just learned that CAF denied their request for 3,500 fans to watch the match tomorrow,” the official told TheCable.

“We were even told that it’s just five accreditations that was approved for Nigerian journalists to cover the game.”

The Super Eagles will face the Squirrels behind the closed doors by 5 pm.