As Super Eagles coach Sunday Oliseh
prepares to invite players to the national team, ex-internationals,
Garba Lawal and Friday Ekpo, have advised him to work with players who
are active in their clubs, and not benchwarmers.
Ahead of the August camping of the
Eagles for their 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying fixture against
Tanzania, Oliseh lowered the initial selection criteria for the national
team, which passed only players in top leagues.
Lawal, who spoke to our correspondent on
Thursday, commended Oliseh for amending the initial criteria, noting
that getting a role in the national team was no longer as competitive as
it was about a decade ago.
He said, “The kind of players we have in
the national team these days is not encouraging. But with Oliseh, I
believe the team will succeed and I believe he has the ability to change
the attitude of the players.
“We
don’t have very good players now. It is not like 10 to 15 years ago
when you have three to four good players struggling for one position. He
should manage what he has and try to work with players who are in form
and active for their clubs.”
On his part, Ekpo blamed Eagles’ woes on benchwarmers, who he said dragged the team backwards during crucial matches.
He said, “You cannot bring a player who
has not played a single game for his club and drag him to the national
team; he would be struggling with fitness and would not be able to
combine well with his teammates.
“Even if the players are in top clubs,
they must be in shape. Even the goalkeepers need to be in shape no
matter where they play.”
Ekpo added that in the last two and half
to three seasons, Nigerian players had not been playing first-team
football in European top flights.
He said Oliseh had started well and
urged him to scout players who are in form, both at home and abroad, and
use them to build a formidable national team.
0 comments:
Post a Comment