Gernot Rohr’s men were scheduled to take on Burkina Faso on Monday at the Hive, London, venue of their 1-1 draw with Senegal on Thursday.
However, the grade A friendly has been called off after seven players in the Burkinabe contingent failed to secure entry visas into the United Kingdom.
This was disclosed by the chairman of the NFF Technical and Development Committee, Barr Chris Green in a chat with thenff.com in London.
“We regret to announce that the second friendly match we had scheduled for the Super Eagles as part of preparations for the remaining matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying series and the beginning of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification race would no longer take place on Monday, 27th March 2017,” he said.
“The match in question is called off due to no fault of either the organizers or the Nigeria Football Federation. We will announce further plans for the Super Eagles’ preparation for these two important qualifying campaigns in due course.”
It is understood that the absence of a British Embassy in Ouagadougou contributed to the cancellation of the tie, as Burkina Faso FA, FBF, said applications were still pending at the British Embassy in Morocco as at close of work on Friday.
Meanwhile, NFF president and CAF Executive Committee member, Amaju Pinnick, was upbeat despite the cancellation, saying much was gained during the international break.
“Our joy is that we were able to play Senegal and got a fair result with a depleted squad, and also the objectives of team bonding, team building, team discipline and further imparting the Technical Adviser’s philosophy to the group have been well served.
“The Technical Adviser has also been able to look at a few more options, and our strength-in-depth is looking very good,” he said.
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