The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and Sports Ministry officials are not happy with some of the players that Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi took to the Confederations Cup.
Nigeria defeated Tahiti 6-1, but lost 2-1 to Uruguay and 3-0 to Spain. With better finishing from the strikers, there is a possibility the team would have done better – at least qualify for the final four.
An official of the Ministry of Sports, in a phone conversation with PUNCH, made it clear that the NFF will no longer let Keshi’s “very personal” plans slide anymore.
“When Keshi came on board the general agreement was to build a team afresh which was the right thing to do having missed one African Nations Cup, but we have passed through long enough period and by every reason should have reached a much higher level than we are now,” he said.
“We are still experimenting for only one reason and that is purely because of what the coach is doing. Keshi appears to be encouraging certain players for purely personal reasons. Take the Confederations Cup as a typical example and you will understand that many of those listed in the team had no business being there. You cannot say you are exposing players to the detriment of the country; players that have not even reached the level of African Nations Cup were instead thrown in to play against world champions Spain.
“We are no longer fooled on this matter and we have to take more interest in the players that represent Nigeria. This is a national team and not a private team. He has to get the Nigerians we know are in better state to feature for Eagles rather feature players nobody knows the clubs they are playing for.”
It is understood that despite the grievances of those in the Glass House, the former Nigeria defender does not regret picking the players he travelled with to Brazil.
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