Former Nigerian forward, Samson Siasia has thrown his weight behind Crystal Palace midfielder, Eberechi Eze to fix the Super Eagles midfield if he can be convinced to play for the senior national team.
Eze has been on the radar of the Nigerian Football Federation, with NFF President Amaju Pinnick a known admirer of the talented playmaker.
Recall that he trained with Super Eagles along with Chuba Akpom in March 2017 before a cancelled friendly against Burkina Faso.
However, in an interview with The Sun, the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations winner, has urged Super Eagles interim coach, Austine Eguavoen to intensify move on the need to have him play for Nigeria.
“Well, we don’t just have a number 10, that is a creative midfielder in the mode of Jay-Jay Okocha that can distribute accurate passes to the strikers,” Siasia told The Sun about the Super Eagles’ non-functioning midfield.
“We don’t just have them now and that is why I have been thinking of Chidera Eze with Crystal Palace. The Super Eagles need that player. He could be the next Okocha if we invite him.
“I have told Eguavoen that the team needs a player of his mood. He will be a good addition to the Super Eagles. We need somebody like him in the team because if you don’t have an offensive player who creates chances for the strikers to score, the team will have problems.”
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COMMENTS
Kai! Why waste valuable cyberspace for a player not crazy about the Super Eagles? Make Eze rest joor. We only need those who need us. If he like make e be like Paul Scholes with the grace of Marilyn Monroe in a football context, We no want! Carry your load go. Come back when you are passionate like Balogun, Ekong Plumptre, Aribo etcetera et cetera et cetera…. Lolzzzz, Lolzzzz Za Za Za Za. Each of them is a hero, Eze is one big fat ZERO…… LOLZZZZ.
Pride is the problem of Nigeria…….What is there to be passionate about in The way Nigeria is now??….G12 countries like Germany France England and co persuade dual national players to play for them talkless of Nigeria that is still crawling at 62 years of age…….It’s opinion like this your own that makes our youth team coaches to demand bribe from foreign born players inorder for them to play for Nigeria which is the reason we lost Alaba of real Madrid till today…….Look around u what does Nigeria have that would make a sane human being beg or bribe to play for us?…….No roads,No electricity, No infrastructure, No planning, No health care system, corruption everywhere,…….The youth of this nation have little or no future and you expect a bright talented player that was developed in a society where things are done properly to just come down here and bow to you because he wants to help……..Some even say they don’t want to have inferiority complex and I shake my head because the solution to a problem starts from admitting that you have a problem at the first place……. Developing ourselves starts from admitting that we are inferior in every ramification to the western world and strategizing on how to bridge that gap instead of living in a fool’s paradise.
Okay sir. No more comments…..lolz
Agree 110%
@Akp Absolutely correct!
I don’t know when we will get over this Eze issue,the young man wants to focus on England and I don’t blame him,if in the future he changes his mind,he should be the one asking for the opportunity to play for us and regretting why he snubbed the super eagles just like so many of them from Germany ,UK and co
Top marks my brother. Sense no go kill you. We should only always rave about players who are passionate about Nigeria.
The Akpogima’s that have come, what have we done with them..?
My mind tells me that the last discussion they had with him (Eguavoen and Amunike) was positive.
It will be plus for us if both Eze and Olise agreed to come and play and if they don’t, other players will surely rise.
I am more particular on M.Olise, that’s the guy we do not want to miss out on and not Eze. Eze is a very good player but Olise is one heck of a player with a high ceiling.
If the reports making the rounds is anything to go by then he might be available to us if we get past Ghana.
The world cup is in few months if we qualify. Eze will likely never have finished his clearance before the world cup so there is no need talking about him at the moment.. it will take more than a year before he can play for us if he wants to..
We should be looking at other midfielders, billing, ejarie, olise,etc.
Good point but you might want to leave out Billing. Aside the fact that he has publicly made it known that he would rather play for Denmark than Nigeria, there are better home grown players in the middle of the park. Since Innocent Bonke arrived at Lorient, they have been winning and that tells you a lot whereas they were struggling before. there is Frank the Tank, Mike Kingsley who in my opinion are better than Billing. If you want to get a defensive midfielder though to add to the pool of talent in Midfield, kindly check Kingsley Ugochukwu (Boy will be a gem someday).
sorry i meant lesley Ugochukwu.
We have more than enough defensive midfielders.. innocent bonke is a defensive midfielder, there are alot of them at the moment doing well in their clubs.. we have, bonke( Lorient),onyedinma in denish league, aremu in st Pauli( likely will play in German bungesliga next season), onyeka etc, billing has been converted to an attacking midfielder and he was a good goal ratio in the English championship this season and last season.. he would be a good addition to the team if we can convince him the same way we are chasing olise and eze. They all committed the same sin not willing to play fo Nigeria.. besides billing will likely play in the epl soon.
We actually don’t need Eze, with the return of Etebo, the pairing of Ndidi, Etebo as holding ME and Aribo in CM is enough for us against Ghana. Meaning two stagnant DM and Aribo moving forward. Ejuke or Terem Moffi (if he gets invite) can deputise.
Wingers Simon/Ejuke and Dennis/Chukwueze/Kalu/Ademola can help in that regard. AKPOGUMA/Balogun/Ajayi can mount the defense while Uzoho is in goal.
Best of luck in March.
Siasia’s statement is mind blowing considering the galaxy if midfielders at out disposal. I don’t know what sia1 sees about Eze but as a number 10 Ariball is far better than Eze .He wasn’t used correctly at the AFCON that’s why we didn’t reap the full benefit. Play Aribo as number10 then pair Ndidi and Onyeka at the base then u have one of the best midfield combination in the world. I didn’t mention Etebo paring Ndidi because of his poor passing range. Only “gara” no ball sense.
So you will seriously compare the flair of Eze and Olise to Aribo. Aribo is a very good player but he is not a typical 10.
Have you ever seen Aribo pick a long range pass? Some players can do a job in certain positions but that does not mean that it is their best position.
It appears the 10 position has lost its meaning in modern day football and our interpretation of the position is some how blurred now. Sia 1 knows what he is talking about. If you ever get these players to don the green white green , only then will you see the difference.
The issue with Eberechi Eze is that he expressed his non intention to play for the super Eagles provided n the first place as his eyes were on England . And the Coach Eguavon and coach Amuneke came to the UK to speak with the players there . Eze was there and he told them that they should give him time again for hes recovered from a long injury. Now in my own views I wouldn’t want to push a player to play for the national team and besides he’s a young who feels that he a mind of his own on what he wants . Nathan Tella has stated his interest without hesitation. Michael Olise on the other hand is the guy I feel we should look into and we really needs more convincing of how much we need him . There are players who are waiting for a chance . Akinwunmi Amoo is yet to be called . Cyriel Dessers has shown his readiness to play for the team . Ademola Lookmn showed his desire to play . Now that is a player who is sincere of that he wants and not a player who is still asking for time .
It is not necessary for us to be looking for players that play like okocha . Zinedine Zidane doesn’t play like okocha and yet he’s one of the greatest number 10 in the world . So also is Steven Gerrard who Zidane admires so much that he asked real Madrid to ask for his services .
Joe Aribo is a number 10 who hadn’t been given the chance to exPress himself.
It’s now up to the coaches to look into the matter and make a decision once and for all. Noone is bigger than the national team not even Eberechi Eze .
Apart from Aribo . Isn’t nnwakali a number 10.
LMFAO! It all started with Nwakali will fix it, Aribo will fix it mow this dude.. LMFAO! Is the SE eagles moving forward? LMFAO!!
In the end, we will still end up with Ndidi, Etebo and Iwobi as our first choice midfield players. Aribo is only enjoying playing in the absence of Etebo. I laugh when someone says Etebo only plays gra gra football.
When Etebo and Ndidi played with Iwobi in our midfield, that pair had the highest ball recovery rate ever seen in Super Eagles.
Even Super Eagles of 94 didn’t have that sort of midfield.
@Ben, “Aribo is only enjoying playing in the absence of Etebo”. hmmmm….Yet Aribo was benching him when Rohr was coach.
Chai! Mr Ben I was enjoying you until: “Even Super Eagles of 94 didn’t have that sort of midfield”.
@Monkey Post I still stand on what I said, even Super Eagles of 94 did not have a high ball recovery rate in the face of opposition. Sunday Oliseh was an aggressive ball player, Mutiu and Okocha were the attacking midfielders, that’s 1 defensive and 2 attacking.
Now its 2 defensive – Ndidi and Etebo and 1 attacking. But in all, they can turn from defence to attack very quickly. Especially with Etebo.
Okocha did not have starting shirt in USA 94..
Our formation was 4-4-2
Rufai
Eguavoen Okechukwu Nwanu Emenalo
Oliseh- Adepoju
Finidi- Amunike
Amokachi and Yekini..
Okocha was a second half player
@Sean, that is incorrect. The only game Okocha did not start was the game against Bulgaria. He was starter for the games against Argentina, Greece and Italy.
If player starts 3/4 games and you still label him as a 2nd half player.
@ Golden Child..
Here are the stats for Okocha in USA 94..
*Against Bulgaria…No App
* Argentina..87th minutes for Oliseh
* Greece… 69th Minutes for Yekini
Only against Italy that he played full 90 minutes.. thanks
In terms of defensive midfielders in Nigeria apart from ndidi who is our number one, and aribo who is playing way back from where I expect him to play, I wont use onyeka Frank or bonke innocent in our dm. The reason being that they are not ball playing DMs in that they cant hold on to the ball or move the ball around or give good forward passes when with the ball. They just try to win the ball and pass it to the nearest person available. And football has evolved more than that. Even the defenders are expected to be able to hold on to the ball with confidence and give a good forward pass when required.
The above mentioned players are just copies of ndidi and dont add anything special to the team. Its just the names of the leagues and club sides they play for that stands them out.
Personally,I feel players like alhassan yusuf, Raphael nwadike, etebo (when in form) has something better to offer the team. They have decent mobility, good ball carrying skills and good range of passing which is what you need from your midfielders. Even ndidi with all his talents and abilities still needs some improvements especially in long range passing, moving the ball and shooting the ball.
We want a super eagles team where everyone is comfortable on the ball, from goalie to striker.
The team handlers should have an open mind when calling up players and not allow names of clubs or leagues to influence their selection process but allow the players abilities do that for them.
@Sportfan thanks for your brilliant contribution. I always say that if our coaches have eyes even during Rohr’s era, they should have seen the quality Alhassan Yussuf will bring to super eagle, and it baffles me that Mr Egu doesn’t look the guy side too. I have watched this guy 6times this season, he’s a raw talent mixed of kova & kante and I believe he will develop to be one of the best in the nearest future. I must confess that If I am to show my tribalistic attitude toward the hausas because of Buhari, I won’t be clamoring for his invitation but the love for my country and super eagle is more important because a win for super eagle is a win for Nigeria. Please super eagle coaches look at the guy side, na him be the solution, not Onyeka or Bonke. We need ball playing DM like Alhassan Yussuf .
God bless Nigeria
@Sportfan thanks for your brilliant contribution. I always say that if our coaches have eyes even during Rohr’s era, they should have seen the quality Alhassan Yussuf will bring to super eagle, and it baffles me that Mr Egu doesn’t look the guy side too. I have watched this guy 6times this season, he’s a raw talent mixed of kova & kante and I believe he will develop to be one of the best in the nearest future. I must confess that If I am to show my tribalistic attitude toward the hausas because of Buhari, I won’t be clamoring for his invitation but the love for my country and super eagle is more important because a win for super eagle is a win for Nigeria. Please super eagle coaches look at the guy side, na him be the solution, not Onyeka or Bonke. We need ball playing DM like Alhassan Yussuf .
God bless Nigeria
If Eze and Olise ever agree to play for Nigeria, and I don’t blame them if the don’t, Nigeria will have a chance of winning the World Cup.
All hands on deck. Whoever from wherever can play for Nigeria if he is qualified and willing to.
What about Siasia and Fifa case, is it over? I will love it that it is or has been resolved.
Amoo Akin (19) is better than Eze. Leave him alone. He told Nigeria to wait while he make up his mind. We are waiting.