Ex- Nigeria Football International , Kayode Emmanuel has condemned the continued snubbing of Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) players by handlers of Super Eagles.
The 1995 U-20 player, added that non inclusion of NPFL league players in the starting line up of the current senior national team is an indictment on the domestic league.
Emmanuel insisted that there are lots of good and quality players in Nigeria domestic league who are perfectly fit for the Super Eagles .
The former FC Sheriff Tiraspol of Mondova, stated this in a chat with newsmen in Akure, the state capital.
He disclosed that he was in former Water Corporation FC, now Sunshine Stars when he was invited into the Flying Eagles in 1995, lamenting why the current handlers of the national team are ignoring the domestic league players.
He said over-reliance on foreign players will not do the nation any good, adding that domestic league players did wonderfully well when they were given opportunities under late Stephen Keshi that made Nigeria won the African Cup of Nation in 2013.
According to him, “domestic league players will always play with all their hearts to get fame, they will like to do everything to shine, because they want to play in Europe unlike the foreign big boys that have already made their names.
“,Home based players are always hungry for success”, he stressed.
Kayode Emmanuel who is one of the Sunshine Stars coaches added that five home based players were on parade in 2013 when Nigeria last won the African continent highest laurel, saying they were not only in the team, but justified their inclusion in the team.
He mentioned players like ;Godfrey Oboabana of Sunshine Stars, Sunday Mba( Enugu Rangers),Ejike Uzoenyi (Enugu Rangers) Reuben Gabriel (Kano Pillars) Azubuike Egwueke (Warri Wolves), Chigozim Agbin (Enugu Rangers) adding, that Godfrey Oboabana was able to tame gangling Striker Didia Drogba when Super Eagles played them and Sunday Mba also scored a winning goal in the final match.
He said: “We can’t compare the way they play in Europe with Africa, African football is quite different from European football, African football is played with raw power.
“It’s not too late for us, we should as a matter of fact to go back to the days of late Stephen Keshi,by injecting players from our domestic league into the team.
Emmanuel advised the Nigeria Football Federation NFF to set up a committee to be watching Nigeria Premier Football League NPFL , saying the committee will be making recommendations for the coaching crew on the outstanding players in the domestic league.
He said the preparation for the ongoing Nation’s Cup was too poor, saying some players are just joining the team two days to the kick off of the competition and that is why they are playing individual game, they are not playing like a team.
“I pray we proceed beyond group stage in the competition because our preparation was nothing to write home about”, he said.
Super Eagles will be up against the host team Cote D’Ivoire on Thursday in their second match of group A after playing a barren draw with Guinea-Bissau last week Sunday.
Credit: The Hope Newspaper
+ There are no comments
Add yours