Ex-Super Eagles International and coach, Sunday Oliseh has said that only the best players playing their football in top A-leagues across the world should be invited to play for the Super Eagles.
Oliseh, who spoke to Channels Sports on Friday, expressed concerns that the criteria for invitation to play for the national team was nothing to write home about, nothing that a lot has changed since his time as player and coach of the team.
“The demands that we have; the qualification that you have before you can play for the Super Eagles; the bar has been reduced.
“We as a nation are now happy with mediocrity. We celebrate even third place in Africa. When you are Nigerian, you are the best. You don’t celebrate even second.”
“That is why when I coached Super Eagles, the first thing I told them was ‘If you are not playing in the first division anywhere in the world, forget Super Eagles’ because the best has to play here,” the 1996 Olympic gold medalist added.
Oliseh also lamented that the Super Eagles team is currently short of top players playing the best of football at the moment with the exception of Leicester City’s Wilfred Ndidi.
“We don’t have a lot of top players playing at the top level at the moment. “In fact, the most solid player we have now is Wilfred Ndidi because he has got a lot as a player,” he said.
On the decision to bring the 2021 AFCON qualifier against Lesotho to Lagos, Oliseh said, “You have to be at your best to play there,” he said following the decision to bring the 2021 AFCON qualifier to Lagos, adding, however, that “there is an advantage to it. The advantage to it is that you always bring your ‘A’ game when you come to play for Nigeria and you know that you have to play well and it is not a luxury playing for Nigeria; it has to be an honour wearing the green white green.”
By Augustine Akhilomen
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COMMENTS
Sunday Oliseh has always been full of passion but also contradictions and unsteadiness. His brain is easily unsettled. Fine player that he was, this is the reason he was neither successful as a captain nor as a coach.Some of the players he invited and even fielded for the Super Eagles were mediocre.
He invited Wilfred Ndidi, the first game Ndidi played was by Sunday Ogochukwu Oliseh. and he marinated some players from late coach Stephen Keshi, what are you talking.
Did u invite A team players during your tenure before u absconded??? Were ur players playing in top leagues during your turbulent time as a coach????? Do we have players playing for Barcelona, real Madrid, Bayern Munich that rohr failed to invite??? U people need to get some sense honestly. The other day it was finidi and mobi oparaku and now u. Pls, tell us one player that plays for your so called A team that rohr didn’t invite. . Little wonder you’re still jobless up until now. U talk as if u had the best of times with our team but have forgotten that you were the one who forced our main players into retirement bcos of ur bad man management skills. You should be ashamed of yourself. In fact, going by how u treated the team u claim to love so much, u ain’t supposed to even say sh… T about them bcs u abandoned them when it mattered most and made our team a rejected child that nobody wanted to associate himself with until rohr came around and brought it back to life that all of you wicked idiots now want to identify with. Brother, pls, just don’t stir the hornet’s nest abeg. Pls, shu…. T the fu…. K up. Nonsense.
This is the list and caliber of players this moron invited during his useless time as a coach and tell me which of the players played for A teams and top leagues. Some people are just so stupid!!! ………….
Goalkeepers: Vincent Enyeama (Lille OSC, France); Carl Ikeme (Wolverhampton Wanderers, England)
Defenders: Leon Balogun (FSV Mainz 05, Germany); Kingsley Madu (AS Trencin, Slovakia); Godfrey Oboabona (Caykur Rizespor, Turkey); William Troost Ekong (FK Haugesund, Norway); Kenneth Omeruo (Kasimpasa SK, Turkey)
Midfielders: Joel Obi (Torina FC, Italy); Izunna Ernest Uzochukwu (FC Amkar Perm, Russia); Obiora Nwankwo (Coimbra FC, Portugal); Lukman Haruna (Anzhi Machatsjkala, Russia); Rabiu Ibrahim (AS Trencin, Slovakia)
Forwards: Ahmed Musa (CSKA Moscow, Russia); Emem Eduok (Esperance ST, Tunisia); Emmanuel Emenike (Al Ain, UAE); Anthony Ujah (Werder Bremen, Germany); Sylvester Igboun (FC UFA, Russia); Moses Simon (KAA Gent, Belgium)
Compare the above team list with what we have now and tell me which one has more pedigree than the other….. Wicked people all over….
Hahahaha God bless you bro, this young man really finished our dear SE… Imagine his A team and top league players.. What a joke!!!
Oga @Oakfield abeg calm down o….LMAO…biko. Ozugo nwannem…! LMAO.
Leave these ex-internationals let them continue to their lies….them and their followers.
From which ever angle they want to look at it, this mechanic that is in charge now is doing FAAARRRRR better than the best they ever offered to us when they were in charge.
That list was just about 5 years ago, just compare the quality of the clubs and leagues our players where playing for then with what we have now and you will see a clear stupendous leap in the progress our football has made under this mechanic. Lets not even talk about the on pitch results, the quality of football being played and even the off pitch character of today’s SE.
If an ordinary mechanic could do what he has been able to do, what do we call them that failed woefully….?? Dustbin pickers I guess.
I love your to point response Oliseh is an arrogant person who feels he knows it all he was just been fortunate . He should bury his head he has mouth because Dr Larry of Brilla FM has also been canvassing for him putting on where he does not belong so he feels he is recognized by people Oliseh am sure if you take time to read people’s response to your comment you will always keep quiet learn from Okocha and Kanu well reserved player with good reasoning.
@ Oakfield all I can see in that his A team and TOP league players is bribery and corruption because, that list is not on merit…. Am sure there are better players as at then ..
There was a local player, Paul ONOBI capped by Sunday Oliseh to play for the Super Eagles. Nobody has heard of ONOBI since then
Is it the same one that was said to be as good as, if not better than, Mikel…? Ask @Jimmyball, he sure knows his whereabouts.
sunday oliseh…..you again?……that decided to stay in holland, because as you claimed,SOME EVIL SPIRITS WERE DISTURBING YOUR HEALTH IN NIGERIA nd turned the super eagles upside-down before deserting the team when it was obvious we were not going to qualify for the afcon….now joining forces with other EX players to speak ill of our team……indeed time is a healer…..we shouldn’t expect less,afterall YAKUBU AIYEGBENI who made a RECORD of WORST WORLD CUP MISS has also came out to say his own version after 11 good years……..these ones can’t be my legends…….legends?…. my foot
imagine sunday oliseh who grew up in a SLUM(AJEGUNLE)right here in lagos,played for JULIUS BERGER in lagos, played in europe then came back,after retirement,to become coach of super eagles’s coach,nd began to run from EVIL SPIRITS that didn’t SWALLOW him in AJEGUNLE where most of them including IGHALO ND OSIMHEN grew up……anyway i trust THE NFF……they would rather take another person serious…..not you again
Some times as a true and real SE fans we aught not to comment on this type of post bcos “a guilty conscience does not need any accuser”…. His conscience is blaming him even while he was spewing sh…t….
We all know his track record as a coach of SE and how he left us in the middle of the sea and fled away, let’s not answer him even a word…. Allow him to bla…. Afterall we are in a free world.
::::SHALOM::::
@Dr.Drey… Football know him people! Lol… Paul Onobi was at that time the best midfielder in the Nigeria league, he won that award in 2015/2016 NPFL season. Just like Sam Garba Okoye went to seek greener pastures at lowly-football ingTehran, Iran… sometimes luck does not shine on some precocious talent. See… One thing I want us to reason is that, Oliseh was trying to groom someone to help Mikel Obi and play in his place when need be. Paul Onobi was a stubborn player… it affected his decisions a bit and thus positive career upward movement… but for talent, my brother leave matter for Matthias, the boy dey there! His story is similar to one time wonderboy Ezekiel Bassey who was so good in our league and went to sign for Barca B at around 22years which did not allow him play high level football eventually leaving Barcelona uncelebrated! For Oliseh is midfield generalissmo to pickout a Paul Onobi and play him ahead of Mikel Obi… now that calls for some seriously deep thought. Oliseh held the young man in such high regard because Mikel Obi then was not in the best of terms with Coach Oliseh… Paul Onobi did a wonderful job in the few games he played with the main team under Oliseh… but as soon as he left the post and went Back to Belgium for ill-treatment by the NFF and Coach Siasia take over… he made a sweeping change of playing personnel from the group Oliseh involved… Do you still hear about Sylvester Ignoun of Dinamo Moscow? That was another decent guy who got the chop after Oliseh was forced to leave the position.
I love your to point response Oliseh is an arrogant person who feels he knows it all he was just been fortunate . He should bury his head he has mouth because Dr Larry of Brilla FM has also been canvassing for him putting on where he does not belong so he feels he is recognized by people Oliseh am sure if you take time to read people’s response to your comment you will always keep quiet learn from Okocha and Kanu well reserved player with good reasoning.