Christian Chukwu has blamed the Super Eagles inability to progress to the semi-finals of the FIFA Confederations Cup, on the inexperience of the players.
Nigeria bowed out of the competition, after winning just one game against Tahiti and losing against Uruguay and Spain and the former Eagles coahc says absent strikers wouldn’t have made much difference.
“People keep saying we missed strikers like Obafemi Martins and Osaze Odemwingie, but that is not the issue,” he said. “When these players were there and did not play to our satisfaction, we clamoured for other players to be included. What is missing in this team is experience. We should not forget that key players like Victor Moses and Emmanuel Emenike were not available for this tournament.
“If this crop of players continues to play at the big stage just as they did at the Confederations Cup, they’ll gradually acquire what is needed to win games at the top level.
Chukwu also praised Keshi, for giving relatively unknown players a chance to strut their stuff.
“The results (in Brazil) are not encouraging but Keshi deserves credit for giving the players the chance to play at the top level.
“One of the lessons learnt from the Confederations Cup will be on how to fortify the team ahead of their last World Cup qualifier against Malawi and the subsequent preparation of the team for the World Cup.
“It is better we fail and learn at this level than to disgrace ourselves at the World Cup next year. The purpose of this competition is to assess the team’s strength, and we have seen our weaknesses.”
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