Former Super Eagles forward, Odion Ighalo has canvassed for the inclusion of more home-based players in the Super Eagles.
Only three local players; Ojo Olorunleke, Amas Obasogie and Christian Nwoke were included in Super Eagles’ provisional squad for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
Ighalo expressed disappointment with the decision of head coach, Jose Peseiro to include only three home-based players in the squad.
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The striker stated that more local players should be included in the team in future.
“I don’t think is right not to invite home base players, this is a 40 man list, at least 7 to 5 players should be on the list to encourage them, not inviting them means, you don’t focus on the league,” Ighalo told Oma Sports.
Only one home-based star, John Noble make the Super Eagles squad to the last AFCON hosted by Cameroon.
At least one of the three goalkeepers in the provisional list is expected to be included in the final squad for AFCON 2023.
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COMMENTS
When he was playing, he never canvased for it. instead of him to canvas for the development of the league that will produce good players Worthy for national team inclusion, he is talking without proper insight.
Eureka!
My thoughts exactly.
Exactly my thought….
The problem we have always had is inferior tactics.
The SE that won the 1994 Afcon is believed by many to be the best we’ve ever had. Their weakness was poor tactics.
The 2nd round game we lost to Italy for example would have been an EASY WIN for a sound tactical coach. We were leading 1-0, we were controlling the game, our players were individually better. Poor tactics cost us that game. That was not the only time we lost a winnable game due to poor tactics. It’s happened numerous times, too numerous to recount.
When we win trophies, it’s largely due to the individual talent of the players. Take the 1996 Olympics for instance. We almost lost the semifinal to Brazil due to poor tactics. It was the sheer individual brilliance of certain players that bailed us out in that game. Same thing happened in the final against Argentina.
The 1988 Afcon final is another example.
The 1988 Afcon trophy should have been in the bag. A game we controlled for large portions of the game. We had Cameroon pinned back for long periods. But we lost. Why? Poor tactics was the main culprit. The SE threw the kitchen sink at Cameroon in that 1988 final, they tried so hard. But they failed. Because THEY DID NOT DO ANYTHING DIFFERENT. They were doing the same thing over and over again, and Cameroon was ready for that. With a good tactical coach, we would have tried a different approach, something Cameroon was not prepared for, and could have won that match.
The match was there for the taking. We failed to take it.
Poor tactics has cost us so much in football. This is why we need to get a tactically sound coach. That will make a huge difference.
We don’t need a coach to “coach” the players. These guys are professionals. We need someone who can sit on the bench and read matches, and RESPOND TACTICALLY to our opponents.
If we approach someone like Xabi Alonso, for instance, we can sweeten the deal by allowing him to continue with his Bayer Leverkusen job, but also pay him full time to be our tactician during games. He will come in, supervise Finidi and other coaches who are training the boys in camp, but his main job is to formulate strategies for the opponent, select the starting eleven, and most importantly, apply tactics during the game.
Xabi Alonso is just an example. There are many good coaches out there. If we like Peseiro so much that we want to keep him, fine. But we must get a match reader, a tactician, to sit on our bench. We must have that.
Makes a lot of sense….
Poor tactics is our major problem. But do we have a coach that will address this problem.
Olu, thanks.
Honestly, the only “coaching” that should be happening in SE camp is fitness drills.
Getting the players match fit before a game.
The main job in the SE camp is to analyse the opponent, and come up with a formation that will make life difficult for the opponent. That’s what tactics does for you.
What do you want to teach guys like Osimhen, Aina, Iwobi, Ndidi, etc, that they don’t already know? They don’t need a coach. They desperately need a tactician. Someone that can read a game and make changes, personnel wise or formation wise. Someone that can say, you know what, for this opponent, let’s switch to 3-5-2, because they have a strong midfield. We have to match them in the midfield. Then select the players that can perform in a 3-5-2 formation.
If the match is going on and a weakness in the opponent emerges, a tactician can exploit that weakness. If the opponent is strong in something, a tactician can make changes to avoid that strength, or frustrate the opponent in some way.
We may not have the kind of quality we had in the 1990s, but with a good tactician, there will be a significant uptick in our performances and results. With a good tactician, we will not become invincible, but we will be more difficult to beat.
Why NFF ONIGBESE won’t do what is necessary to get us what we obviously need is what I can never understand or accept!
Why NFF ONIGBESE won’t do what is necessary to get us what we obviously need is what I can never understand or accept!…. @Pompei, you want to know why?…CORRUPTION, GREED and WICKEDNESS and I will tell you they intentionally create chaos to take advantage of that chaos to line their pockets… Look at the way way they went about the sacking of Gernot Rohr weeks to a major championship/tournament and their hurried appointment of Augustin Ogun Efon (Eguavoen) knowing that Egu is a serial failure (90% of the time, he fails on any assignment) and a willing tool to be used for their clandestine and corrupt practices…..Just look at the way they appointed Jose Peseiro… he was actually waiting in the wings for Eguavoen to fail ‘well well’ so as to take over without any questioning, we were desperate to have a good coach as long as that coach that we were waiting for was not Eguavoen and remember, they already sold Peseiro to us as a top notch coach in the mold of the ‘Chosen One’, Mureino….Their goal, I mean PICNIC and his cohorts was to setup an over-payment scheme to line up their pockets. Or how do we explain paying Jose Peseiro $70K per month for one year befor it was renegotiated back to $50K Gernot Rohr was being paid before he was let go….An overpayment of $20k every month going to private pockets of individuals who we thought have the interest of the growth of our football at heart…yet, they owe salaries and allowances due to staffs and players, but will be quick to divert any money coming to the federation from FIFA…..They have done this with impunity and no one is stopping them….My question is where is EFCC and how do we think they will think properly to know what the Super Eagles need is a good TACTICIAN as laid down in your write up?… All they think of everyday is what they can pinch to line their pockets and any coach/tactician that is professional enough to not want to share his slaries with them will never be considered for the Super Eagles…..May God help us…..
Olu, we really need help.
With a decent tactician, our 1994 SE might have become the first African side to qualify for a world cup final. They might have even won the whole thing. The only team good enough to stop them in that tournament was Brazil, in my opinion. And even then, it would have been 50-50. We could have beaten them with good tactics and good fortune.
With good tactics, we would have won a lot more Afcons, instead of the 3 we currently have. So much opportunity for success has passed us by all these years, because NFF prefer to go the cheap route when it comes to hiring coaches.
Our football has been kidnapped by WETIN WE GO CHOP administrators. The shameless haggling with the Super Falcons at the last women’s world cup over FIFA bonuses shows just how pathetic these guys are.
I feel you bro….it’s so sad….even the Falcons’ coach sef, dem don take style sidetrack and dump the guy sef…..
Thank you @pompei I really like your coment.
Thanks friend.
Ighalo should help players find clubs overseas. Home-based footballers are simply not good enough This is why nobody goes to watch the NPFL. Even a fool like Ighalo knowe that it is better to have medical treatment abroad than in Nigeria
Talking about NFF ONIGBESE AKA AJEWOMASAN, the chronic diehard debtors. It’s interesting to note that NFF is owing several generations of players.
From generation to generation, players come and go, BIG GBESE REMAINS UNPAID.
Some players like Keshi and Siasia became SE coaches, and NFF continues to owe them, both as players and coaches! Sotey, some like Keshi have died waiting for payment, yet they remain unpaid!
Is it not shameful and disgusting? Who do us like this?
NFF under Alhaji Gusau is doing its best to settle outstanding entitlements to coaches and players.
That must be some really good weed you’re smoking there.
Enjoy yaself, old friend.
If you want to play for Nigeria, go through the age-grade regional, continental and global soccer tournaments. Do not short circuit the required quality by hoping to be selected because you are home-based. That is naked cheating
Olu,
You are so right, I struggle to see Waldrum staging a comeback to the Super Falcons but strangest things have happened.
The guy really humiliated the NFF; their egos were badly battered and bruised.
Stand-in coach Madugu has done well against Cape Verde and Ethiopia. But will he be able to deliver against England or Canada?
Well I hope he produces his magnum opus yet against Cameroon in February’s Olympic qualifiers. If he his Falcons manage to devour the Indomitable Lionesses, then perhaps the case to make Madugu the permanent successor to Waldrum will expand.
But NFF are temerarious to be honest.
Wouldn’t it be wise to bury the hatchet, swallow their pride and recall Waldrum. The American knows how to set the Super Falcons up against rough oppositions. Apart from South Africa, Waldrum’s Super Falcons achieved commendable results against quality oppositions in competitive fixtures.
The American knows his onions. Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, England, Canada, Australia and Ireland all found the Super Eagles a hard nut to crack leading to the accompaniment of CAF the African women’s team of the year.
After such an achievement, the NFF now think it is wise to contemplate replacing such a tactical genius with an up-and-coming prospect!
I like what Madugu has done thus far but I doubt whether he is on the same intellectual and tactical level as Peseiro, sorry, Waldrum.