Liberia Tie: Keshi's Eagles List Divides Nigerians

pmnews-placeholder

Reactions have continued to trail the release of the 38-man list of the Super Eagles called up by Chief Coach Stephen Keshi for the return leg encounter of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Liberia.

The list, which was released on Tuesday, has a roll call of 23 home-based players and 15 foreign-based stars invited to camp for the crucial match slated for 13 October at the U.J. Esuene Stadium, Calabar.

Speaking early today, former Assistant General Secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, James Peters, expressed curiosity over the invitation of 15 foreign-based players for the match.

“I don’t think the idea of inviting 15 foreign-based players for that match is good enough. Why bring in foreign-based players for a match when you know that they will sit on the bench. There is no point inviting them for a match only to bench them,” said Peters.

He said: “The coach knows these foreign players and their current forms in their various clubs. My advice is that he should have invited only the players that he is sure of using for the match and leave the rest that he knows will not feature in the match.”

Related News

While defending the large number of invited players, member of the Media Committee of the NFF, Paul Bassey said there is no need for the outcry because some of the invited players could still be decamped because the medical team would still carry out checks on all the players.

He opined that some of the players may be hiding injuries from the technical crew but after the checks are carried out some of the players could still be screened out paving way for some other players.

On his part, former Eagles’ player, Tijani Babangida, gave his nod to the team list, adding that the invited players are in good form.

“We have been following these players and we all know that they are all good at the moment. The players are very strong and they all have fresh minds,” said Babangida.

—Bimbo Ajayi

Load more