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Peseiro: Why I Want Okoli To Represent Super Eagles

Peseiro: Why I Want Okoli To Represent Super Eagles

Super Eagles coach, Jose Peseiro, has expressed his desire to see Atalanta defender, Caleb Okoli represent the senior national team at the international level.



Having represented Italy at age grade football, Okoli, who is of Nigerian descent is still eligible to play for Nigeria.



In an interview with Tuttomercatoweb, the Portuguese tactician stated that he would saddle Ademola Lookman the task of convincing Okoli.



“Yes, we will try. After this friendly match against Portugal, there will be time to talk to him and to understand his decision, ” Peseiro told Tuttomercatoweb.



“Whether he wants to play with us or not. I will talk to him through Lookman: I will present my model to him. , what do I think of him, the project we can have together with Nigeria “.

 

By Augustine Akhilomen


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COMMENTS

WORDPRESS: 34
  • Time to talk sense into these foreign born Nigerias….England just released its 26 man team list to Qatar World Cup…. Can you Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham missing out on that list?…Imagine Harry Maguire making the squad and Fikayo Tomori failing to in spite of currently playing week in and week out at AC Millan. These guys would have made Nigeria’s Super Eagles so strong and competitive if they had agreed to play for Nigeria. What a waste? This should be an eye opener for players like Okoli, Destiny Udogie, Michael Olise, Eberechie Eze, etc who are still in the fringe of making their countries of birth teams but will never make those teams because when the chips are down, those handlers will go for their own if they have alternatives or options that can compare very well with them. The situation hurts but it is what it is…

    • Glory 1 year ago

      These players are selfishly being DECIEVED by their agents who only care about their pockets.
      They just waste these players international future for their own personal interest.
      People will wanna blame Southgate but he openly said England national teams invitation should not be used to tie players of dual nationality down but got attacked by the media who are ever being influenced by selfish agents.

  • Folarin Balogun would not mind playing for Nigeria if he gets the call. The scouting department needs to do their job now before the 3 lions wastes him again.

    • @Olu, thank you so much for your beautiful comments.We have a lot of players with dual nationality who are more than willing to lace their football boots for Nigeria but we keep on wooing the recalcitrant ones.

      Arsenal FC ‘s loanee, Tim Akinola was disgraced out of the current national under-23 camp under Salisu Yusuf despite paying his flight ticket coming down to Nigeria and performing well in training.Daniel Akinleye of Amiens SC of France,Tyron Akpata of West Ham United of England want to play for the present Golden Eaglets. Ireland’s Jesse Nwabueze of Ipswich Town is eyeing a place in the current Flying Eagles. Folarin Balogun has declared his readiness to come if he is approached.

      LIST OF DUAL-ELIGBLE PLAYERS WHO WILL NEVER REJECT NIGERIA CALL

      Goalkeepers
      1.Sebastian Osigwe(FC Lugano,Switzerland)
      Nationality:Switzerland

      2.Owen Goodman (Crystal Palace,England)
      Nationality: England & Canada
      3.Philip Ejimadu(MLS club)
      USA & Brazil

      4.Arthur Okonkwo(Crewe Alexandria, England)
      Nationality: England

      5.Tobias Okiki Lawal (LASK Linz,Austria)
      Nationality: Austria

      6.Joshua Oluwayemi(Portsmouth FC,England)
      Nationality: England

      7.Prince Adegoke(Chelsea FC,England)
      Nationality: England

      Defenders
      1.Odeluga Offiah(Brighton & Hove Albion,England)
      Nationality: England

      2.Festy Ebosele(FC Udinese Calcio,Italy)
      Nationality: Republic of Ireland

      3.Kingsley Ehizibue(FC Udinese Calcio,Italy)
      Nationality: Netherlands & Germany

      4.Osaze Urhoghide(Glasgow Celtic,Scotland)
      Nationality; Netherlands & England

      5.Ago Obileye(Livingston FC,England)
      Nationality: England

      6.Marvin Ekpiteta(Blackpool FC,England)
      Nationality: England

      7.Michael Ihiekwe(Sheffield Wednesday, England)
      Nationality: England

      8.Dominic Iorfa(Sheffield Wednesday, England)
      Nationality: England

      9.Jonas David(Hamburger SV,Germany)
      Nationality: Germany

      10.Jordan Torunarigha(KAA Gent,Belgium)
      Nationality: Germany

      11.Felix Agu(SV Weser Bremen, Germany)
      Nationality: Germany

      12.Oludare Olufunwa(Liverpool FC,England)
      Nationality: England

      Midfielders
      1.Nathan Tella(Burnley FC,England)
      Nationality: England

      2.Ovie Ejaria(Reading FC,England)
      Nationality:England

      3.Sheyi Ojo(Cardiff City,Wales)
      Nationality: England

      4.Luke Ayodele Amos(QPR,England)
      Nationality: England

      5.Bright Osayi Samuel (Fenerbahce FC,Turkey)
      Nationality:England

      6.Oladapo Afolayan(Bolton Wanderers, England)
      Nationality: England

      7.Malcolm Ebiowei(Crystal Palace,England)
      Nationality; England

      Forwards
      1.Folarin Balogun(Stade Reims,France)
      Nationality: England & USA

      2.Chuba Akpom(Middlesbrough FC England)
      Nationality: England

      3.Uche Ikpeazu(Konyaspor FC,Turkey)
      Nationality: England & Uganda

      4.Noah Sarenren Bazee(FC Augsbuy,Germany)
      Nationality: Germany

      5.Bright Osemudiamen Okosun(Aidrieonians FC,Scotland)
      Nationality: Spain

      6.Michael Udebuluzor(FC Ingolstadt, Germany)
      Nationality;Hong Kong

      And many more…..

  • LIST CONTINUES ….

    1.Emmanuel Osadebe(Bradford City, England)
    Nationality: Republic of Ireland

    2.Viv Solomon Otabor(Rukh Lyiv,Ukraine)
    Nationality: England

    3.Ody Alfa(QPR,England)
    Nationality: England

    4.Mandela Egbo(Charlton Athletic, England)
    Nationality: England.

    • Not all should qualify to play for Super Eagles. Only if they are better than the ones that we have presently. Super Eagles should not be for all comers and never to be a rehab center. Whoever they call should be ready to fight for a shirt and not getting the shirt on a platter. There must be a standard to scout these players and if you are not playing in the top leagues and in the Championships week in week out, you are not getting a look in….May be some in the cadet Eagles but must be ready to make sacrifice….

    • Golden Child 1 year ago

      Na only Mandela, you for see Thabo Mbeki….lol. Let the coach do his job.

      • Adebisi Abioye Thompson 1 year ago

        Isn’t it part of the coache’s job to search for talent wherever he can find it? even if na Ramaphosa,in a country of close to M200 people,we can’t get a decent goalkeeper, the goalkeeping blunder that cost us the ticket to Qatar can’t happen in the under 12 squad of a fourth division team of the leagues in Europe

  • Akunde 1 year ago

    Oyibo adorers and consumers who are not sble to devdlop their own, but depend only. I can see una feciz. Na this sickening dependency and inability to grow ouemr own nan im de and go kill us die. Iiiiisssshhhh

    • @,Akunde,with all due respect, you have not made any point. Are these players not Nigerians? Is it not wise to play with our best legs regardless of the circumstances of their birth or the leagues the feature in? So Folarin Balogun should be allowed to be snatched by England because England developed him? And if the English football authorities dump him like Nedum Onuoha,Jordon Ibe and lately Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori it wouldn’t matter to you? Please put on your thinking cap, my dear brother.

      • Are they the only best legs we have. How many of them have you watched there games and believe they better than the current squad. For one am tired of all this second hand players. If they can’t make the team of there country of birth, we don’t need them in our national team. They end up coming and they play rubbish. Spare all this names you dishing up and down. Since they came what has changed, nothing

      • Dr. Drey 1 year ago

        Good reply my brother.
        I dont really understand the reason for the hate towards foreign-born Nigerians, as is they chose to be born outside Nigeria or chose to have 1 non-Nigerian parent.

        We keep hearing noises of how the SE should be owned by their own, yet across all the national teams, you keep seeing glaring fundamental deficiencies in these so-called home grown players developed in an environment that lack structures for proper development. Its not a coincidence that save for 1 or 2, even the ones that qualify as “non-foreign born” players in the Super Eagles today are not products of our league system or any developmental structures in Nigeria. They all cut their teeth and developed to whatever level they are today by being groomed in Europe.

        And I have noticed our local coaches to be the worst culprits. The case of a certain Mathew Edile being picked ahead of David Alaba in 2007 U17s, a certain Chizoba Amaefule being picked ahead of Semi Ajayi in 2013 U20s or a certain Abba Bichi being picked ahead of Malcom Ebiowei (who is now at Crystal Palace FC in the EPL) in the 2019 U17s teams are a few examples of the many injustices meted out to foreign born Nigerians at the detriment of the country. The common denominator in this case is that “they are not strong enough for african football” but few years later, these players become strong enough for the top leagues in world football while their Iron benders fade away into the abyss of oblivion.

        I still cannot forget how that serial failure Eguavoen came in and tactfully expunged the names of most of the foreign born players in the 40 man provisional squad Rohr submitted to CAF for the 2022 AFCON, for mediocres who had not even smelt the SE camp previously. Where are they now….?

        In our Flamingos squad to the recently concluded U17 women’s world cup, the coach managed to pick only Alima Atterval ALASE, just 1 out of the 4 foreign born Nigerians who paid their own tickets to camp. He didnt as much as give her 1 minute, just 1 minute of game time all through the tournament. This is a player who at the age of 16 has already played 2 full seasons in the Swedish senior womens premier league. Nobody can convince me she isn’t better than the other midfielders in the team. And this is probably the only player in that team whom we can 100% guarantee to be a true U17. Similarly, the Arsenal player that was dropped from the team too i am sure would have been a better player than some on those taken along. Just anybody does not get to play for a club like Arsenal FC at any level.

        Ify Onumonu has most likely recorded more goals and assist for the SF than any other centre forward in the SF since Waldrum became coach, but she continually gets verbally attacked for not being a brute…..as if football is traditional wrestling. Even Traditional wrestling at the highest level is more technique than brute force. I really dont know what crime these kids have committed to have been born outside Nigeria. But it is not their fault that football development structures are noting to write home about in Nigeria, neither is it their fault that they have been developed to play football more with their brains than their muscles.

        If we wake up someday only to discover that the best 23 Nigerian footballers at our disposal were born abroad, then so be it. Enough of this nonsense of foreign born / non-foreign born discrimination in our national teams.

        • Glory 1 year ago

          Many thanks @ Drey for this enlightened post. Nigerians and wickedness to their own is our greatest hoodoo. Foreign or local, Nigerians are Nigerians irrespective n the best legs must represent except any coach that says otherwise is confirmed lunatic.

        • benakay 1 year ago

          Dr. Drey
          This has to be the most robust and on-point post I have read from you. Bravo, for keeping it real! Couldn’t have posited a better response myself.

          Nigerians are so myopic, its not even funny. They talk down on Foreign born players and will gladly shoot themselves in the foot because of foolish pride and a lack of foresight.
          Meanwhile, we keep complaining of a decline in the performance of our national teams, but fail to recognize that other African countries have wizened up and claiming what is RIGHTFULLY theirs – i.e. Foreign born players, and are employing them to fortify their national teams with great success, yet we (Nigeria) look for every excuse to turn them down.
          Extremely dumb!

          • Dr. Drey 1 year ago

            Thanks Benakay. Im just saying it as it is as usual.

            Like you rightly said, other countries are taking full advantage of having foreign borns. Senegal just won their 1st AFCON with a squad that is over 60% foreign born and a coach that was also raised abroad. Morrocco have returned to the world stage now with a squad that is over 75% foreign born. Algeria became superpowers of african football once again when they started recruiting as many of their eligible foreign-borns as they could lay their hands on, led by a coach who is more french than being algerian too.

            Its not like we have a better league or better pool of quality eligible players both home or foreign born than these countries o. Morrocco has been back to back CHAN winners and produced one continental club finalist every year for about 6 straight years now. Still they recruit every kid with morrocan blood in them, male or female to play for their national teams.

            Almost every squad that showed up at AFCON turned up with whatever foreign born citizen that was good enough and eligible to wear its colours….but the suffering and trauma some Nigerians have passed through right from birth has made them to think with their brains facing backwards.

            There are many talents in our league, there are many talents in our league. CAF CL….zero. CAF CC…..almost zero. CHAN almost zero. Only God knows where this their many talents in the league are. Almost every emerging Nigerian star in europe now is not a product of the same league the claim has many talents. I wonder where their so-called talents get transferred to.

            The colour of the Nigerian passport home-born Nigerians carry is most likely greener that the ones foreign-borns carry…..LMAOoo. I dont give a damn if all 23 invitees to the SE are foriegn-born players, until our home-borns start playing at their level or beyond, they should remain shut out of the national team. I’ll rather pick a Kevin Akpoguma, a Calvin Bassey, a Fikayo Tomori, a Tosin Adarabioyo, a Semi Ajayi or even a Marvin Ekpiteta ahead of Olisah Ndah. Ndah should move to the EPL, Bundesliga, Seria A or Eredivisie and go face the type and quality of strikers these boys face every weekend and lets see if he’s as good as them.

        • A bottle of Goldberg for you Dr Dre

          • Adebisi Abioye Thompson 1 year ago

            Not only one,he deserves a full case

        • Golden Child 1 year ago

          looooooool…… “they are not strong enough for african football” but few years later, these players become strong enough for the top leagues in world football while their Iron benders fade away into the abyss of oblivion”.

          That cracked me up.

    • Ignatius Abo 1 year ago

      @Dr Drey, let’s call a spade a spade, the homegrown players that Eguavoen took to the Africa Cup of Nations were far better than the dual nationality ones.
      Only a liar will say Kevin Akpoguma is far better than Olisa Ndah. What of Kelechi Nwakali, didn’t he play like a man possessed in the Afcon? On a good day will you say Aribo is better than Nwakali? Boss a beg rest. How in this world will any sane coach pick Dessers ahead of Onyekuru.
      @Drey,stop thinking anticlockwise a beg. All these lies you come here to tell us have been effectively debunked.
      Heaven bless all deserving indigenous Super Eagles players.

      • Tony 1 year ago

        Which olisa ndah is better than akpoguma?and which nwakali same nwakali dat is playing in spain second division or d same nwakali dat was dropped by porto abeg talk another tin

      • benakay 1 year ago

        Only a deluded person would even suggest that Olisa Ndah can be spoken of in the same breath as Kevin Akpoguma.
        Ndah will NEVER, EVER reach or accomplish what Kevin has accomplished. Not in a million years!

        Damn, I can’t believe I am even responding to this deluded, nonsensical assertion

        • Dr. Drey 1 year ago

          In truth, some comments dont deserve response. Just read them….hiss (if possible, spit)….and move on.

      • Omo-ovie Ejiroghene 1 year ago

        I’m shocked that you will compare Ndah to Akpoguma, or Nwakali to Aribo but let’s forget about the clubs they are playing at and let’s compare their market value Ndah is priced at £550,000 while Akpoguma is at £5,000,000…even among Nigerian players Ndah ranked lower than Akpoguma. No one is saying players born in Nigeria should be excluded from the national team but let us look for our best legs home and abroad
        Many of the people canvassing for home grown super eagles players don’t realize that it’s purely business for our coaches and the agents of these players at the expense of our national team; why are these players no longer invited after they move to clubs abroad? Because some greedy people have turned out national team to a marketing agency. The best legs should always be chosen. I also feel it’s a bit hypocritical to condenm the invitation of foreign born players when many of us will prefer to study in Europe rather than in Nigeria

    • Adebisi Abioye Thompson 1 year ago

      Oyinbo adorers? woow,I hope you didn’t forget brain inside shoe wey you dey Waka on am
      What is anybody’s business wether na oyinbo or wether he’s from Afghanistan,as long as he’s of Nigerian descent and he’s the best available at that position,he can even be born in Chad,it doesn’t matter as long as he’s eligible as a Nigerian and he’s better than anyone else in that particular position,common sense should prevail but unfortunately as by the comments,common sense is no longer common

  • pompei 1 year ago

    Make unu pay this man, so he can continue his work in good faith. Nice one, Peseiro. Keep scouting for quality eligible players.

    • Ignatius Abo 1 year ago

      Thumbs up brotherman Pompei. You are one of the few people who make me come here to comment on anything. All those evil fans with evil intentions never say the truth. Let’s call a spade a spade, it is far better for the NFF to pay Peseiro now so he can be well motivated.
      Heaven bless Peseiro and all deserving Super Eagles coaches.

  • Hillary those boys chose their part and that’s good for them . Especially Tammy Abraham.

  • osaretin 1 year ago

    Not playing for Nigeria National team, is beyond only going to the world cup for their adopted countries. It is like saying why is every youth having Jakpa as their clarion call. the problem is this individuals do not want the hassles of playing for a disorganised setting and system. see Pesiro going to convince a player, he is owed 6 months, does this happen where they are coming from. not to mention the other problems of kidnapping, bonus issues, ticket issues, threats by aggrieved fans, withdrawal from a competition you qualified for (tigress and FIBA withdrawal), no medical or insurance cover for injuries on national assignments to mention a few. The problem is the National team has to be attractive enough to sway ones decision. so any person accepting to play for Nigeria either loves Nigeria as it is or is desperate for a national call-up . there is no go between decision

  • Hassan Tia 1 year ago

    Hillary you showed excellent comment for putting a list of dual nationality who can pledge their allegiance to Super Eagles; I add for you an excellent right winger who has Duch nationality he is Go Ahead Eagles club Bobby Adekanyi who has sharp left foot I think he just like Emmanuel Amuniki style of play.Peseiro must choose high quality players who have dual nationality just as Jordan Toranerigh, Emmanuel Eberechi, Michael Oliseh, Felix Agu, Arthur Okonkwo, Caleb Okoli, lesly Ogochukwu, Folarin Balogun, Owen Goodman; SE will be strong team which will defeat any rival.

  • Glory 1 year ago

    What forumites must understand is that not EVERYONE ONE HERE IS NIGERIAN OR HAVE NIGERIA’S INTEREST. WE HAVE THREE KINDS HERE; ONE TRULY INTERESTED IN SEEING THE BEST OF NIGERIA; ANOTHER ONLY INTERESTED IN NIGERIAN FOOTBALLERS AS LONG AS THAT LEAVES FOOD ON HIS TABLE(FOOLISH/MYOPIC REASONING ONES) AND THIRDLY, NON NIGERIAN EVER/FOREVER ENVIOUS OF NIGERIAN’S ENDOWMENT. EASY TO PICK OUT THESE BY CAREFULLY SCRUTINIZING THEIR COMMENTS, READING BETWEEN LINES.

  • Glory 1 year ago

    Recently there has been unbelievable biased attack on Calvin BASSEY by some cheap ex Ajax players. I have watched most of Ajax games this season and can boldly say, BASSEY has done credibly well. In fact BASSEY and Kudus have been amongst the best Ajax players. That now leaves me believing these attack on BASSEY is just a gang up to bring him down simply because of the amount that was paid on him and possibly again being a young black player. Kudus could easily have been going through same if they had paid such huge amount of money on him.
    WE MUST NOT SIT AND LET THESE BUNCH OF IDIOTS DESTROY OUR OWN . I HEREBY CALL ON EVERY FOOTBALL LOVING NIGERIAN TO USE EVERY SINGLE SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLETS TO FIRE BACK AT THESE LOSERS WHILE CONTINUE TO PRAISE EVERY SINGLE PERFORMANCE OF BASSEY WHETHER AJAX WIN OR LOSE WHETHER BASSEY PLAYS WELL OR BAD BECAUSE THESE ATTACKS IF NOT DEALT WITH, CAN EASILY AFFECT A PLAYERS CONFIDENCE AND THAT IS THEIR AIM.

    • GOOD TALK BUT WHICH CHANNEL ARE WE GOING TO USE IN REPLYING THOSE HYPOCRITES EX AJAX PLAYERS?
      ACTUALLY, IF CARE IS NOT TAKEN CALVING BASSEY COULD BE DEMORALISED THROUGH DEROGATORY COMMENTS.
      LET OUR SCOUTING UNIT IN NFF OR EX SP PLAYERS APPROACH THE RELIABLE FOREIGN BORN PLAYERS TO PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO NIGERIA ON TIME TO AVOID BEING SNATCHED BY ANOTHER COUNTRY

  • Many of the players in World cup squads of European teams play in their countries’ better organized leagues. Conversely, it would be criminal if the Super Eagles is full of domestic players and used to prosecute high profile matches. Where is the capacity?

  • Dr Drey, There are a lot of truth in your piece regarding invitation of Nigerians in diasporal to our national teams and i agree totally with you that the discrimination has to stop. At the same time we should all mount pressure on our sports administrators to reinstate sports particularly football in our school curriculum like it used to be (Primary to Tertiary institutions) It is criminal for a country as big as Nigeria to abandon sports development yet wants to win World cup or Gold at the Olympics. A country like USA develop all sports through their school system and they have done it so well that it has become a huge industry with the participation of businesses in school sports. It might interest you to know that some undergraduates in the US go to the Olympics from school, win Gold and come back to school. We can do same in Nigeria, it only requires commitment. We as sport lovers have a role to play by putting pressure on sports administrators to do their jobs . We are in campaign season right now and i have not heard any politician say anything about sports development and all our sports journalist in both print and electronic media are missing in action, they all make a lot of money reporting sports, yet they don’t care about the development. Why can’t they team up as a pressure group to start asking all the Presidential candidates to tell the youths what their plans are for sports. Until we invest in grassroot development of sports we shall always look outside for talents to fill the gap created by wicked politicians

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