Last night they were supposed to play a friendly against Egypt in Cairo, but the match never happened.

According to this morning's Mirror, it was all about cash. The players were demanding that they be paid the £50,000 they were promised as a bonus for qualifying for the World Cup finals, before they would be prepared to get on the plane to Cairo.

But there are also suggestions (see eg this article on the excellent CyberEagles forum) that lack of fitness and a hectic schedule were factors. A quote from Austin Okacha in the Mirror echoes this: "The decision not to go to Egypt was a wise one. It may have been a disaster because we are not fully fit yet."

One has to wonder how they' are going to get match fit without games (apparently they only have one other friendly, against the Ivory Coast, scheduled before their first match in the Nations Cup on January 21st). Also ,one source quoted on the CyberEagles page says, "Lets face it, Egypt is a very cold place, asking them to play under such conditions and then go to a hot place like Kano could affect even the strongest player". I guess it all depends on what you're used to, but it seems a strange excuse to me, especially when many of the players are used to European climates now.

Anyway, I'm sure they know what they're doing. But Kanu will presumably be well pleased that he's not going to join them till after the Liverpool game.

See also AllAfrica.com schedule of matches in the first stage of the African Nations Cup.