By Daily Sports on October 13, 2015

Ex-international Christopher Nwosu has said he is in support of the decision by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), not to beg goalie Vincent Enyeama to reverse his decision on his retirement from the national team, but asked the apex football governing body to look inwards in order to forestall future recurrences.

Nwosu was reacting to the rift that exploded between the Safe Gloves and his coach, Sunday Oliseh, in far away Belgium where the side took on Congo Democratic national side, the Leopards, in an international friendly game. Though the Eagles lost the match,  the former player says that there is every need for all hands to be on deck meaningfully, otherwise the distraction may spill over to the epic 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against arch-rivals, Egypt, in March next year.
His words: “Whether we admit it or not, there is big problem at hand right now, as it affects the Super Eagles team. We must not pretend about it. I believe the earlier we confront it frontally the better. There is no unity of purpose in the squad right now. The setback is not about Oliseh or Enyeama, but about Nigeria. There must be leeway to how the lads would be united as a strong and one indivisible team that will squarely face the solid Egyptian threat headlong. This crisis is not the best for us right now. NFF leadership must stamp its feet on ground and caution all the key stakeholders in the team that personal ego must not take precedence over national interest. Nigeria is bigger than any individual, no matter how loaded technically or otherwise.’’
He admitted that it is highly regrettable that Enyeama announced his retirement from the national team duties shortly after his avoidable face-off with his coach; that he was quitting international football after 13 years and 101 caps, remains worrisome except that in Nigeria we hardly value our legends. Putting in such number of years in the national team actively was no mean feat.
“I will not like to go into the rumpus between the duo. Rather, l will call on the NFF to get down to the roots and call for carefulness when issues like the one under discourse arises in future. The Football House must wake up and take the bull by the horn, before it is too late in the day. Gabon 2017 ticket that is at stake must not slip. This was unfortunately mishandled due to past rancour. It is a delicate issue right now. It’s near impossible to ascertain the loyalty of the players to the coach right now. I am not too particular about the result(s) of the friendlies, but how to throw up one shop squad at the end of the day. We are already trailing in our group, against the dreaded Egyptians and is huge commotion is with us. It is my prayer that we quickly outlive successfully.
“It would be recalled that the Lille of France number one choice had a heated disagreement with coach Oliseh, during a meeting of the players on his arrival at the team’s camp in Belgium, which led to the ugly scene of the former captain of the team being horded out of the hotel by security agents invited by Oliseh. This is the first time such international embarrassment could befell the country,” he stressed.
He, however, faulted the player that despite the excellent moves by NFF president, Amaju Pinnick, to get the situation under firm control, Enyeama still retired. The player, he restates, would not have gone out of the camp without confiding in even the NFF boss. He was upset, but he would have exercised some restraint and allow justice take its full course, he said.

•Photo shows NFF President, Amaju Pinnick.

Source Daily Sports

Posted October 13, 2015

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