17th August, 2010
Caretaker coach of Nigeria’s Super Eagles, Austin Eguavoen, has made special case for local players to be given necessary attention and the support to play in the senior national team.
The former Nigerian international took the Eagles, the bulk of who were made up of local players, to an international friendly with South Korea on 11 August in Seoul. Though the team were defeated 2-1Â by their Korean counterparts, Eguavoen believes the performance of the local stars in the friendly showed that if given the chance to prove themselves the players have what it takes to fight for shirts with the foreign based professional players in Eagles.
Eguavoen, will soon be drafted to the U-23 Eagles after the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, might have concluded its ongoing negotiations with Samson Siasia on a deal to take over the Eagles’ job. He said on Brila FM early today that most of the local players that featured in the match against South Korea put up a good performance, adding that they only need exposure to more international friendlies that will give them the chance to blend in the team. He noted that the local lads can go places if given more playing time in the senior national team.
Meanwhile, the NFF is scheduled to meet with the Heartland Football Club of Owerri coach, Siasia, to finalise negotiations on the contract to handle the Eagles. P.M.Sports gathered that the disagreement on the salary the NFF wants to give the former Super Eagles player, who took the U-23 Eagles to win silver medal at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, is delaying the formalization of the deal. Details about the deal is expected to be finalised today.
—Taiwo Adelu