Bonus standoff won't affect players - Yobo

Joseph Yobo says Thursday's bonus standoff will not distract the Super Eagles when they play France on Monday.

The Nigeria players boycotted training as they demanded advance payment of the graduated appearance they had agreed with the NFF.



Matters were resolved with the intervention of Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan, and the squad flew out to Brasilia on Friday afternoon.
 "We are football players, this is our career," Yobo told KickOffNigeria.com. "When you get on the pitch, you can't think about anything apart from football.

"This money issue was there before the first match, it was there before we played Bosnia and it was there before we played Argentina and it did not distract us.

"We met with the officials before and also met with the Senate president and we agreed on some things before the competition started."

Yobo expressed gratitude to President Jonathan for stepping in "The president called this morning and spoke to me and the coach, and I think that's a great feeling. Because we are representing our country and he is the leader of our country. It's a morale booster.
"The NFF, the Sports Minister and a lot of other people also worked hard with us.

"We were not fighting anybody. We just wanted to remind them that we are here and waiting for what was agreed."

True to his statement, the squad departed as scheduled for Brasilia.