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Vogts vows to reveal truth

HAMBURG - Former Nigeria coach Berti Vogts on Monday dismissed claims by Fifa president Sepp Blatter that one of the reasons his team failed at the recent Africa Cup of Nations was because he did not live in the west African country.

HAMBURG - Former Nigeria coach Berti Vogts on Monday dismissed claims by Fifa president Sepp Blatter that one of the reasons his team failed at the recent Africa Cup of Nations was because he did not live in the west African country.

The Super Eagles failed to progress beyond the quarterfinals at the showpiece of African football, resulting in Vogts quitting his post.

Blatter, who was in Scotland on the weekend to take part in a meeting of the International Football Association Board, was quoted in Scottish newspapers on the weekend as saying: "My old friend Berti Vogts was in charge of Nigeria and he didn't even live in the country - that surely can't be the correct way to proceed?

"Vogts was not living in Nigeria because he said his players weren't there. But to feel a team you must feel the country."

But Vogts told Deutsche Presse-Agentur that he did not believe Blatter had made the statement as it was quoted.

"The way I know Sepp Blatter, he would not say anything like that.

"He did not know what I did in Nigeria. If he really said those things, he would also have had to say the same about Juergen Klinsmann, who two years ago took Germany to the World Cup semifinals without living in Germany."

Vogts said he would one day reveal the real reasons why he had left Nigeria. -Sapa-DPA

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