Following protest by fans carrying placards asking for the sack of coach Stephen Keshi at the stadium

Following protest by fans carrying placards asking for the sack of coach Stephen Keshi at the stadium on Tuesday, the NFF is expected to deploy security to forestall violence. The Nigeria Football Federation has concluded plans to tighten security around the Abuja Stadium for today’s Super Eagles cracker against after threats of protests against the team escalated on Tuesday. A ragtag bunch of fans carried placards asking for the sack of coach Stephen Keshi at the stadium. This is expected to increase when the African champions take on the Falcons of Jediane this afternoon. A top NFF Secretariat staff told Goal this morning that there are going to be about 800 security personnel comprising of the DSS, Police, Civil Defense and Federal Road Safety Commission for the match because of the tension surrounding the impending outcome of the match.

“Our prayers today are for the Super Eagles to win the match against Sudan and also to play well to cool the nerves of the angry Nigerian soccer fans. We are aware of the fact that Nigerians are not happy as a result of the poor performance and results of the Eagles in the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers,” the source said.

“But we are very sure that the Eagles will do well and win today’s match. The President of the NFF, Amaju Pinnick has already drummed it into the ears of the players the importance of winning today’s match which would kick start the redemption battle for the 2015 Arica Cup of Nations ticket.

“Only yesterday we learnt that some irate fans stormed the main bowl of the Abuja National Stadium with placards with inscriptions Keshi must go and other violent messages. Luckily enough, the Super Eagles did not use the main bowl for their training exercise while Sudan did.

“All these happenings have made the leadership of the NFF to tighten the security plans for today’s match,” the source also concluded.

The Super Eagles are currently at the bottom of their group with a point gathered from three matches while South Africa lead the group with seven points and are closely followed by Congo DR with six points and Sudan third with three points. Nigeria must win today’s match to have any chance of qualification for Morocco 2015.