By Daily Sports on February 20, 2016

Ex-international and one-time head coach of the Super Eagles, Christian Chukwu, has charged the team’s incumbent head coach, Sunday Oliseh, to accommodate more youngsters who are promising, keen and willing to play for the national team instead of shutting them out on unconvincing excuses. The Nigeria Football Federation Technical Committee member noted that there are many impressive Nigerian players that ought to be given a call-up that are still being left out, advising that such trend should be checkmated for the good of the game and the country.

According to him, since the sole aim is to rebuild the Super Eagles, the younger players that have shown determination, zeal, focus, form and grit in their various clubsides should be given the green light to come to the national team to display them.

Chukwu specifically said that he saw no reason why Kelechi Iheanacho of Manchester City is still not part of Oliseh’s plans. According to him, the major foundation on which the invitation of a player is anchored is his current form. Iheanacho, he said, meets that criterion.

Said the football legend: “We must acknowledge the fact that the lad haven featured for his club in a number of games has proved to be a worthy player that gets better in every game. He needs to be encouraged by Oliseh. The way and manner he being is left out while lads of his age or vice versa are included in the senior side leaves a sour taste in the mouth. We must be realistic about the way and manner we invite players to the national team camp. It should not look as if some players are favoured at the expense of others. The Man City player has proved reliability in his star-studded side in the English Premier League when the chips are down. Could it be a case of the biblical prophet that has no honour amongst his people?”

Chukwu added that the task of building a national should be holistic than what obtains presently. He believes that apart from Iheanacho, there are other in-form players that have been left out of the Super Eagles.

“My take remains that we must endeavour to harness our best for the national team duty as it is the norm in other countries. Inasmuch as the central focus is the player’s current form, no player that falls into that category should be left out. Let me also add that friendly matches are stable ground to invite players for assessment and those so identified are used to fortify weak links discovered in the team. My candid advice to the coach is to focus more on testing and fishing out raw talents inherent in the new boys in order to take it from there,” he said.

The former captain of the team further informed that when the coach widens his choice of players, it will leave him with great room to choose the best, which would enable him form a formidable squad – which is what the country needs presently.  He said that anybody that understands what is involved in the building of a team won’t be solely bordered on the result of the friendly games; rather, what should be uppermost in his mind should be how the boys play as a team, which will give a reflection of hope that the side is evolving. “Don’t get me wrong, as I am not saying that winning the matches is not good, but it must not be seen as an end result in this circumstance,” he said.

•Photo shows Iheanacho in action for Manchester City.

Source Daily Sports

Posted February 20, 2016

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