Pinnick insists playing Ghana in Abuja did not affect the play of the Super Eagles stars

Nigeria Football Federation president Amaju Pinnick has insisted that playing the crucial 2022 World Cup playoff against Ghana at the MKO Abiola National Stadium in Abuja did not affect the play of the Super Eagles.

Though fans filled up the stadium, the eleven starters for the Super Eagles were playing a competitive game in the stadium for the first time, including six players born abroad.

The Super Eagles players trained in the stadium for only five days combined before facing Ghana.

Opened in 2003, the Abuja National Stadium has not really been a happy hunting ground for the national team, with the Super Eagles missing the 2012 AFCON after they were forced to a 2-2 draw  by Guinea in October 2011.

The Nigeria U23s were beaten 2-0 by Cameroon in the final of the 2003 All Africa Games and the Golden Eaglets lost to Switzerland in the 2009 Fifa U17 World Cup showpiece in Abuja.

On if playing in Abuja affected the Nigeria players, Pinnick told Channels Television : "So what will you say about the U20 girls that qualified from there?

"Is it everything you want to attribute spiritualism or some kind of philosophy to me but I'm a very straightforward person.

"Uyo, yes, because we qualified from there the last time, the same way the Ghanaians have that confidence when they are going to play in Kumasi, it's our slaughter home.

"Uyo can also be seen as a slaughter home for the Super Eagles because I think they lost only one match there, but they've won all other matches there.

"They have some support from the beginning to the end of a game whether the Super Eagles is playing well or not. They cherish the Super Eagles.

"It's the same thing we had in Abuja, it's just that the fans never expected that Nigeria would not be in the World Cup."

Ifeanyi Emmanuel