Fans seek sustained competitions for Super Eagles
NAN-S-4
Eagles
By Chukwuemeka Opara
Abakaliki, March 24, 2017 (NAN) Football fans in Ebonyi have urged the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) to ensure that the Super Eagles remain competitive in 2017 and beyond in order to boost blending of the players.
The fans who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abakaliki, were reacting to the team’s 1-1 draw with the Teranga Lions of Senegal in a friendly encounter on Thursday.
The Lions scored the opener in the 54th minute through Moussa Sow, while the Eagles equalised through a Kelechi Iheanacho’s 83rd minute penalty-kick, in a match played at the Hive Stadium, London.
Justice Ekeh, former Director of Sports in the old Abia, noted that the Eagles’ lack of competitiveness since the World Cup qualifier against Algeria in November 2016, showed in the game against Senegal.
“The team did not play warm-up matches for AFCON 2017, and did not participate in the tournament proper like Senegal and other teams and this made it lethargic for most part of the match.
“The matter was made worse with the fact that most of the players were making their debut and meeting their colleagues for the first time,” he said.
Supporting this assertion, George Anizoba, Coach of former Ebonyi Federation Cup Champions, Mgbo Ambassadors FC , said that the Eagles had the youthfulness of its players as their saving grace.
“The team is fortunately dominated by youthful, energetic and skilful players, who used their resourcefulness and intelligence to cover the team’s inactivity.
“It is hoped that with the players’ staying together for Monday’s friendly against Burkina Faso, we would see an improved performance,” he said.
Chief Aniekwe Okafor, a timber merchant and soccer enthusiast, urged the NFF to utilise all Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) free days in 2017 and beyond, to keep the team in shape.
“There are not much ‘FIFA windows’ in between the ‘Russia 2018’ and ‘AFCON 2019’ qualifiers, the team must utilise all opportunities to ensure effective blending.
“Coach Gernot Rohr should also use the invited players for both friendlies, to execute the upcoming AFCON and World Cup qualifiers against South Africa and Cameroon due to shortage of time for effective preparation,” he said.
Lucy Inya-Agha, a female football coach, urged the team’s coaches to invite more locally-based players to enhance players’ competitiveness.
“Inviting only one home-based player in a pool of 25 to prosecute two matches is appalling and erodes all efforts being made to improve the domestic league,” she said. (NAN)
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Edited by David Onilede/Obike Ukoh
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