FRANCE 98 – General Media News Template

Nigeria’s World Cup footballers were in a state of shock on Tuersday following the death of the country’s military ruler General Sani Abacha.

Abacha was a football fanatic who knew the players personally. Players received the news at different times during the day on Monday and it has put them in sombre mood on the run-up to their opening match against Spain in Nantes on Saturday.

“It’s been a shock,” said Besiktas player Daniel Amokachi. “None of the team could believe it. Some have suggested we should pull out of the event but I can’t see the point of that. Abacha himself would want us to do well.”

Their Yugoslav coach Bora Milutinovic, known for his few words, said: “We must respect the dead.” 

But it was back to business for the players at their Resson-sur-Matz training ground in Picardie about 80km north of Paris on Tuesday morning.

The full squad, including stars Sunday Oliseh of Ajax, Jay-Jay Okocha of Beskiktas and Inter Milan’s Nwankwo Kanu, were put through their paces. However Kanu, who has fought back from major heart surgery since winning the Olympics with Nigeria in 1986, has his own schedule and trained away from the rest of the squad. Nigeria’s armed forces chief, General Abdulsalam Abubakar, was sworn in as new head of state early Tuesday following Abacha’s sudden death. Abacha, who seized power in 1993, died at dawn Monday, ending a four-year reign over Africa’s most populous country. The new head of state swiftly announced a week of national mourning from Tuesday in honour of Abacha who died from a heart attack aged 54. Flags would be flown at half mast on all public buildings in the country, Abubakar said.