Following the collapse of the proposed tour of Latin America by the Super Eagles, the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) is now desperately wooing their Ghanaian counterparts to see if the Black Stars will now be available.

The Super Eagles were originally billed to meet the Black Stars in the return leg of their two leg encounter this Sunday, but the FA asked for a postponement after they accepted to take the Eagles to South America where they were scheduled to have played two matches. The first against Costa Rica was to have been played on Sunday and the second against Colombia three days later.

However, the trip was called off, according to FA officials, at the behest of the organisers, who requested for a new date - not acceptable to Glass House bigwigs.

"We know that Sunday may not be feasible but we're hoping that they (GFA) will agree to meet the Eagles latest by next weekend because we have another of other pressing engagements to attend too. We're already talking with them and hopefully we'll receive their response in the next few days," explained a FA official last night.

We reliably learnt that with the Golden Eaglets scheduled to play their South African counterparts in a Swaziland 2003 qualifier on February 15, the FA will be fully engaged in ensuring that the same fate that befell the Flying Eagles does not fall on the cadet team.

The Flying Eagles failed to make the African Championships after crashing to Morocco at the final qualification hurdle late last year.

It is also not yet clear whether the Eagles/Black Stars clash will still hold in Warri, as Delta FA had been asked to stand down after the match was postponed.

"We're still hoping to play the match in Warri although to be honest with you we're also yet to hear from them," said the FA official.

The Eagles won the first leg of the friendly played in Accra last December 1-0 courtesy of an own goal. It was Nigeria's first victory over their West African rivals away from home in over 25 years. They are scheduled to take on Malawi in a Tunisia 2004 qualifier on March 29.

Meanwhile THISDAYSports can reveal that the Golden Eaglets/South African tie has been pushed to February 15 in order to accommodate Nigeria's involvement in the on going Meridian Cup in Egypt.

The competition, which pitch junior CAF teams against their UEFA counterparts, ends on Sunday - the day the match was originally billed to take place.

The winner of the two-legged encounter qualifies for the U-17 African Championships taking place in Swaziland in May. Nigeria is the current African champion and FA officials are happy that they are taking part in the Cairo competition because it is seen as a good preparation for the February 15 cracker.

Although the Eaglets are yet to win a game at the Meridian Cup, having narrowly lost 3-2 to France in the opening match and played goalless with Switzerland on Monday, FA officials believe the exposure the team will gain in Cairo will serve them very well in securing the Swaziland ticket.