A Former Super Eagles defender, Taribo West is of the opinion that Manchester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho and Chelsea’s Victor Moses could be the right replacements for Austin Okocha and Nwankwo Kanu in the national team.
Since Okocha, a former Paris Saint Germain midfielder, retired from active football, Nigeria have struggled to replicate the form, which made them one of the number one footballing nation in the continent.
The midfielder, who also played for Frankfurt in Germany and Bolton Wanderers, helped Nigeria win the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia and retired after captaining the Eagles during the Korea/Japan 2002 World Cup, while Arsenal hero, Kanu retired from international football after captaining Nigeria during the South Africa 2010 World Cup.
Taribo, while heaping praise on Nigeria coach, Gernot Rohr following the Eagles’ run of two straight wins in their Russia 2018 World Cup campaign, maintained that the team still lack an extraordinary player, in spite of their solid start to the race to Russia.
“The team are playing well because we have a clever coach in Rohr,” the Atlanta ’96 Olympic Games gold medallist, who represented the country are the France ’98 and Korea/Japan 2002 World Cups, told Punch.
“But there is no any extraordinary player like Kanu or Okocha in the team yet – and there’s no winger like George Finidi in the team.
“Kanu and Okocha were players who could make things happen when you thought it was over for the team.
“When I played for the national team I always believed Kanu or Okocha would come up with something when all hope seemed lost, because they were players who could create something from nothing in a game.
“We don’t have such players in the Eagles at present, but the coach has built the team in such a way that they take collective responsibility.”
Taribo, a former Inter Milan and AC Milan centre back, added, “The Eagles need game-changers and Iheanacho and Moses are players who can become important players for the team. I have watched Iheanacho many times and I think he’s a talent.
“Moses has great dribbling skills and he’s dangerous coming from behind. I played the same role (right wing-back) he’s currently playing at Chelsea at Inter. It’s not easy playing the role Moses is playing at Chelsea; it’s not for average players.
“They (Iheanacho and Moses) are still developing. In a short time, we’ll have replacements for Kanu and Okocha in the Eagles.”
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