It was an irony of some sought for the Super Eagles who are billed to play a team that goes by the  nick-name, Flames today  as they were literally made to train without any illuminations last night. The Super Eagles got a dose of what to expect from the crowd in Blantyre when some irate fans  almost disrupted their late training session following  their  delayed arrival.

Coach Stephen Keshi had insisted on arrival that his players  should  have a feel of the Kamuzu Banda  Stadium,  even though  the 2:30pm  time  allotted to them  had lapsed. He led the team to the arena at about 5pm Malawi time and 4pm Nigerian time, by which time it was already dark in Blantyre.

The coach and his players however braved the odds and trained  in near darkness as the stadium officials refused  to switch on the floodlights in the arena. But as if that was not enough, some tough looking fans stormed the pitch and made  attempts to harass Nigerian players. However, they were restrained by team’s CSO, ACP Gideon Akinsola, Camp Commandant, Lt. Col Rabiu Yandoto and Psychologist Dr. Robinson Okosun, who  assumed the duty of  security detail for the period  the face off lasted.

Following the stiff resistance from the Nigerians, a policeman sauntered into the pitch to  inquire what the problem was, but the fans were not pacified as  they  maintained that since  it was their country and  their stadium nobody could  prevent them from gaining access. They were however prevailed upon to allow  the Nigerians train, but they laid siege for the team with one of them  threatening to deal with  the Nigerians after training.

Frustrated with their antics after  30 minutes, Keshi called off the training  session since it had become unbearably dark.

Despite yielding to their intimidation, the fans still laid siege and it took about 10 minutes for a combined team of policemen and some Nigerians resident in Blantyre to  prevail on them to allow the Super Eagles out of the stadium.

Speaking  at their Sunbird Hotel abode,  a flustered Keshi said he expected such mind games and urged the players to be prepared for more of such antics from the fans. “We will do our best to make Nigerians happy at the end of the day”, he said.

(Source: Soccer Star)