27th October, 2010
For inviting players from the Nigerian League to be part of the Eagles’ squad being used to prosecute international matches, Okey Emordi of Enyimba of Aba has praised ex-international, Austin Eguavoen, saying he is on the right course.
Eguavoen, a member of the Tunisia 1994 set of Super Eagles that won the Nations Cup, has taken bold steps as coach of the Eagles by inviting players from the Nigerian League for next month’s proposed international friendly match against Iran in Tehran.
The former Enyimba of Aba coach on Monday released a 20-man-list, with seven players: Bassey Akpan, Chibuzor Okonkwo, Showemimo Wasiu, Valentine Nwabili, Anyanwu Emmanuel, Eneji Otegba and Saka Ayo from the local League. And, Emordi believes his decision is a sign of better things to come for the local players.
Before now, players from the Nigerian League have always played second fiddle to the legion of Nigerian players plying their trade in Europe and other parts of the world, with most coaches using the locals as training materials. They feel that the home-based stars are not good enough to represent the country, but Eguavoen, a former Partizan Belgrade of Bulgaria defender has since changed the notion.
However, Eguavoen’s decision to invite seven local players for the 17 November international friendly was seen by Emordi as a welcome development. The coach, who helped Enyimba to win the Confederation of African Football, CAF Champions League in 2004 hailed Eguavoen.
“Seven players are among the 20-man list for next month’s friendly against Iran. This means players from our league are also good and will play alongside their counterparts from Europe.
“It annoys me when I heard people calling players from the Nigerian League local players or home-based. Those with such belief must have a rethink because most of the players, who are now playing in Europe started their career here in Nigeria,â€Â Emordi said.
In a related development, officials of the Nigerian Premier League, NPL, condemned comments credited to the first choice goalkeeper of the Eagles, Vincent Enyeama, that players in the League are not ripe enough for international football.
Head Media and Publicity of NPL, Emeka Nwanni, floored Enyeama’s assertion that the home-based footballers were to blame for the Eagles’ 0-1 loss in the Nations Cup qualifying match against Guinea recently.
According to Nwani; “Enyeama appears to have forgotten where he started his career from. I recall very well how he got into Enyimba before the then coach Adegboye Onigbinde gave him a chance to debute at the 2002 FIFA World Cup against England. If Onigbinde had seen him as a home-based player that time, I wonder if he would be playing professional football in Israelâ€.
Meanwhile, Head of the Technical Department of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Emmanuel Ikpeme, explained to kickoff.com that the decision to invite the seven players was not punitive, but meant to try out younger players.
He said: “There is nothing special in the decision to invite or drop some players from the Eagles ahead of an international match. We just want to try some young players so that we can strengthen the team. It also does not mean that the players left out of next month’s game are no longer members of the team.
“They are the key members of the squad, but we need to give other players a chance to see if they can fit in when these big players are not available,†Ikpeme said
—Adebobola Alawode
