Nigeria delay release of Brazil World Cup players list 

The Nigeria Football Association (NFA) has postponed by one week the release of the provisional list of invited players for the 2014 World Cup.

The Super Eagles’ head coach, Stephen Keshi, had on Tuesday submitted a 38-man list to the Technical Committee.

Keshi refused to disclose the names of the invited players, urging media to meet the NFA for the list after submitting it.

However, Paul Bassey, a member of the Technical Committee, revealed after their meeting that the decision to withhold the list was to allow for more consultations.

“We have decided to shelve the release of the list to give him (Keshi) some time for consultations. We are not in a hurry,” he added.

“We have not heard of any country releasing a team list by this time,” Bassey said.

According to him, a provisional list of 30 players would be submitted to FIFA on May 10, and it is from this that the final 23 players would be selected by the coach.

Bassey contended that the list being circulated in certain sections of the media in the last one week did not emanate from the NFA or Keshi.

He said the list could only be authentic when it came from the Technical Committee of the NFA or the Super Eagles’ head coach.

He assured that the team’s proposed friendly matches in May and June would go on as planned.

The Eagles will play Scotland in a friendly match on May 28, before taking on the Greek national team at the Philadelphia Union Stadium in the U.S. on June 3.

The team will also face the U.S. in another friendly at the EverBank Field Stadium in Jacksonville, U.S. on June 7 before flying to Sao Paulo in Brazil on June 11.