Nigerien officials to handle Guinness The Match

The referees for Wednesday’s high-profile international friendly football match between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and Argentina’s senior team will come from Niger Republic.

Officials revealed on Sunday that Ibrahim Chaibou, a FIFA-graded referee of many years, will be Centre Referee with Itinni Haman as 1st Assistant Referee.

The 2nd Assistant Referee is Abdoulaye Mamane while Nigerian FIFA-graded official Bunmi Ogunkolade will work as the Fourth Official.

Wednesday’s clash at the National Stadium, Abuja, for which a total of 25,000 tickets are up for sale at the sum of N2,500 each.

It is the fifth clash between both countries at senior level.

Samson Siasia, presently Nigeria’s Head Coach, is the only man to have scored against Argentina at senior level, in the 1-2 loss to the Diego Maradona-led to the Argies at the Foxboro Stadium, Massachusetts, USA at the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

However, Nigerians retain good memories of a 3-2 win over the South Americans in the gold medal match of the 1996 Olympics Men’s Football Tournament in Atlanta, USA.

Meanwhile,A pre-match press conference ahead of Wednesday’s Guinness The Match will hold on Tuesday at the Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

The event, to be anchored by famous television journalist, Aisha Falode, will start at 11am.

Argentina, whose team arrived in Nigeria’s Federal Capital, Abuja on Sunday evening, will have at the practice pitch of the National Stadium between 3.30pm and 5.30pm on Monday.

The Super Eagles, who will hit camp on Monday, will have their first training session at the same venue between 5.30pm and 7.30pm of the same day. Both sessions will be open to the media.

Tuesday’s training sessions, which will see both teams train at the mainbowl of the National Stadium, will be closed, with media presence allowed only for the first 15 minutes. Argentina will train first from 3pm to 5pm.