UPDATE 2-Soccer-World-Suspended Nigerian team get no sympathy

* Disappointed fans say team deserve punishment

* Parliament urges president to rescind decision (Adds Nigerian parliament motion)

By Yinka Ibukun

LAGOS, July 1 (Reuters) - Nigerians had little sympathy for their national soccer team on Thursday, saying their two-year withdrawal from international competition was well-deserved punishment for their embarrassing showing at the World Cup.

President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday disbanded the national team, who were knocked out in the first round after failing to win a match in South Africa, suspended the football federation and withdrew Nigeria from international competitions for two years to allow for a rebuilding process.

"It is a good thing that the government came out to intervene in football," said Benjamin Chidebere, a civil servant in the commercial capital Lagos.

"Football unites all Nigerians. If you a Yoruba man, a Hausa man, an Ibo man, football makes us drink together," he added, referring to some of the country's more than 250 ethnic groups.

The government instruction to withdraw could prompt sanctions from FIFA, which has taken a strong stand against political interference in the sport.

Some in Africa's most populous nation, where five decades of oil production have enriched an elite while the majority live on $2 or less a day, said football was not the only area where Nigeria needed to tear down everything and start again.