Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr has defended his preference for foreign-based professionals, reports Completesports.com.
Heartland goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa has been the only consistent local-based invitee by Rohr since he took charge of the team.
President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick recently stated that the former Girondis Bordeaux tactician will henceforth be mandated to include a certain number of home-based players in his squad as part of the conditions for a new contract.
“We cannot find all the time players in the local league who are better than the other ones,” Rohr told ESPN.
“The criterion for us, the first criteria is the quality of the players. Everybody knows, not only in Nigeria, that the best players are in Europe or somewhere else in professional leagues. That is the fact.
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“I invited already more than 23 or 24 local players since I have been in charge of the Super Eagles but we invite them and then immediately they are going to Europe. It is wonderful for them but maybe not for us.”
Rohr also revealed that the failure of the home-based Super Eagles to qualify for African Nations Championship has made it difficult for him to select more local players to the national team.
“CHAN team and under-20 team must play all the time. The coaches who are responsible for these teams, must work with me together. And normally the best of the league are in either CHAN or under-20 or under-17,” he added.
12 Comments
Lobatan! “I invited already more than 23 or 24 local players since I have been in charge of the Super Eagles but we invite them and then immediately they are going to Europe. It is wonderful for them but maybe not for us”.
For the one I gave an assignment to research the fact please come out and tell me how not cheap your education was. Someone who only come here with chronic lies claiming Rohr has never discover a single home based player. The likes of Stephen Eze, Ikouwem utin, Ojo, the tall U20 number 5 I can’t remember his name now, Ikechukwu, Stephen Odey, and the league top scorer that was invited during the world cup preparation were all invited into the SuperEagles by Rohr, more home based players than any of his predecessors in the last decade combined have been invited to the SuperEagles yet someone who claims to be an aviation engineer could not see the facts LMAO!!! I laugh in Japanese.
The fact remains that our best players plies their trade in Europe that is also the fact. Once a local player gets a call up to the SuperEagles before you know it they’re already in Europe playing in Latvia, Estonia, Czech republic, or Tunisia, Libya and the likes. So you expect Rohr to call up a player from those obscure leagues???? I’m glad non of the so called my education is not cheap my foot are the ones handling the affairs of the SuperEagles. LMAO!!!
Lol@aphilly,i really wonder the kinda aviation engineer he really is. An aviation engineer that cannot do an ordinary research and present facts accordingly before writing his scrolls of Moses.lol. His epistles are long like from here to Jerusalem but are filled with crap. Lol.. the point is, all these people have one connection or 2 to some very corrupt football agent or syndicate who have scattered their media trojans on every social media to drive home their corrupt mandate before it is executed just like the ex cricket international did with yobo when he was jumping all over the place like a monkey seeking for his recognition which he eventually got and shamefully got ushered in through back door. They would never succeed by the Grace of God. God will continue to disgrace and disappoint them evenly as we battle the forces of evil.
There is no reason for us to be insisting on homebase its not a must. As big as netherland football the players that reach 2010 worldcup where 90 percent foreign based even uroguay. As far as they are nigerians they can be from any league the most important thing is when the player is good. I think rohr should concentrate on identifying good players at the right time for example ebere eze trained with him and he didnt aknowledge a tilent at that early stage he could have captied him. He should have invited sam kalu to worldcup if he had identified the tilent with the guy. He should have long know that iwobi was a better no 10 to mikel obi not after the worldcup, now instead of ejuke he is busy dueling on ahmed musa abdulahi shehu players he have seen their best before. If i was rohr i would invite mankajoula(the most tilented flying eagle) to the nations cup to replace injured sam kalu, why havnt he try kelechi nwakali in a friendly. Sometimes players need the national team shirt to gain more respect and playing time in their club not always the otherway round. Rohr shouldnt alow the tilents of musa muhamed kelechi nwakali mankajoula to waist out these guys are born stars i dont care wat their european clubs think about them. We can learn from balogun case to easily kno that european clubs leaders are sometimes blind jonsing dream suckers.
Before it produce international players the Nigerian league has to upgrade in the following ways
1)Officiating must be brave enough to make the league sensible and competitive not the practice of home must win.
2)The league clubs must go for young players not old papas we see in the league…..imagine the best talents that have left Nigeria for Europe in the last decade never played in the league before going abroad e.g chukweze,osimhen, kalu,nwakali brothers,orji,Kingsley Michael,simon,and many more….imagine such talents roaming the streets while papas play the league….in Brazil its not like that all players coming to Europe from Brazil always go through their league clubs e.g neymay.Jesus.rodygo.vinicus.Arthur etc.
3)security should be good for fans,players,officials and managers because at time the referees only favor the home teams in order to leave the stadium alive.
4)The league should be taken over by private companies and multinationals should be made to be involved in order to raise the financial muscle of the league.
5)The stadiums should be upgraded to world class in order to develope the players and give them avenue to show case their talent.
6)Fans should be made to go back to the stadiums in order to create an atmosphere that can raise the confidence of the players….if you put our league players on the same international stadiums with messi and Rinaldo, they will melt o.
7)This problems have existed for decades and putting it all on Rhors head because he is the national team coach is SATANIC
@Akp.
May God bless you my brother. Has anyone noticed that “Rough diamonds” invited to our national team straight from the league never improve or eventually mature…?
Keshi’s Rough diamonds included…. Oboabona, Mbah (2 match wonder), Uzoenyi, Oshaniwa, Gambo, Gabriel Ruben, Eguekwe, Ifeanyi Edeh….when will these rough diamonds ever become polished…??? Oh…I forgot, some of them are as good as nearing retirement currently. The Most successful of them was Oboabona who played a few seasons in the Turkish top flight.
Oliseh’s Rough diamonds.
Not too many of them…I can only remember Paul onobi (whom our African Guardiola claimed was better than Mikel) and Chikatara. These ones too are as good as retired. Onobi managed a few seasons in Finland and later moved to Saudi. These ones too remained rough all their careers…they never became polished.
Rohr’s Rough diamonds.
So far, as far as my memory can carry me and I stand to be corrected, the following have been called up by Rohr from the NPFL to fight for shirts with the foreign based counterparts in the SE:
Jamiu Alimi, Godwin Obaje, Stephen Eze, Gabriel Ikechukwu, Chisom Egbuchulam, Ezenwa, Ajiboye, Afelokai, (those 3 were also constant names of Oliseh’s lists), Lokosa, Aniyikaye adeleye, Emma Daniel, Ozonwafor, Utin, Ndifreke (from the U23s), Stephen Odeh, Ifeanyi Anaemena.
Pls where are all these guys currently…?? When will they ever transform from being rough to polished. Apart from Odey and Stephen Eze….and the ones from the U20s, the rest are already headed down south.
All these invitees where just within this last decade o. Whereas within the same decade, we have seen tons of players who never even kicked a ball in the NPFL move from the streets straight to professional clubs in Europe and gone on to improve to world class levels. Ndidi moved straight from Nath boys to Genk, from Genk straight to Leicester and is today one of the top 3 in his position globally. Nacho moved straight from Taiye academy, Samu moved straight from diamond academy, Chidera Ejike moved straight to Valerenga and then henreveen, even the 2019 U17 kid wonders like Amoo and Tijani have moved straight to Hammarby in Sweden and RB Salzburg in Austria.
So is it really worth it wasting time on these so called “Rough diamonds” in the NPFL, when it’s crystal clear that they can’t bench any of the foreign based currently in the national team or improve further from their current level…??? Will we ever stop deceiving ourselves in this country…???
Has anyone wondered why it’s always easier to use homebased “U17, U20 and U23” NPFL players to qualify for continental tournaments, but the same homebased find CHAN qualification difficult….??? Lolz….it’s simple…at underaged level, they play against their younger brothers’ mates, but at Chan level, they play with their mates….Lolz (that was on a lighter mood though, but may just be true).
Sometime in the early 2000s I accompanied an ex-footballer friend who wanted to start an agency, to a scouting misson. It was a NICON-NUFOL match between Uniport and UNN…a certain player (name withheld) caught the eye in that game. About 10 years later, that player was one of the homebased players in our 2014 WC team aged 23yrs. LMAO….meaning he was 13 years old when he played for University of Portharcourt back then. So 13yr olds now make it into our universities…??? Bcos that boy I watched back then wasn’t anything less than 22 years of age. But a decade later, he was still 23 and should be 29 (6 years after Brazil 2014) now but has faded into oblivion. I read somewhere he was back playing the the NPFL… AGAIN….but I’m not sure.
A year or two ago a Nigerian athlete won gold at the world youth games (held in Argentina or so) the kid who claims to be 17yrs of age is said to be a final year student in a university of technology back in Nigeria….in order words he got admitted into the university at the age of 12, since universities of technologies in Nigeria all offer 5year bachelors degree programs… meaning he was 6yrs when he entered high school…??? And started elementary school immediately he was born…????? LMAO
Naija for show…!!! Lolz
The truth is that most of the guys playing in the NPFL are the same age with Rabiu Ali whose real age is 40yrs or there about. Those who are clamouring for compulsory or quota inclusion of homebased players in the SE are enemies of Nigeria’s footballing future who are just after their pockets and nothing more.
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks…!
Perfect x-ray
Apt
Added to all that, Akp, league matches should be televised. You have raised very valuable points and have presented them persuasively regarding how the NPFL can be taken seriously.
God bless you sir.
Remember when our league matches were televised, a whole CNN took notice leading to Sikiru Olatubosun winning the goal of the week in March2017.
Olatunbosun defeated Radja Nainggolan of Roma, Youri Tielemans of Anderlecht and Joey Jones of Woking FC to clinch the honour.
The Nigerian was the overwhelming winner with 82% of the total votes.
So, yes I like the Nigeria Professional Football League but it cannot be taken seriously under the circumstances.
A radical overhaul is required before the league and it’s players can considered worthwhile.
Endorsing the points you so eloquently laid out will surely be steps in the right direction.
Thank you sir.
https://youtu.be/gPshuO54Jvo
OK let’s settle this matter,since a lot of Nigerians don’t want the home based to invited,though I find it difficult to believe that we can’t find a player better than shehu abdulahi who plays for div 2 in turkey,we can’t find a home based better than Collins of fc padebon that attackers dribble any how.ok no wahala but if we must stick to firing based,they must gurrantee a nations cup trophy, stop struggling with d likes of Burundi and Madagascar and co,make it it at least to d second rou d of the world cup which be a miracle,I still can’t understand how a home based striker cannot displace Paul onuachu,are we talking about akpeyi,d list is endless, I will go a foreign based that is very good,like chuwueze,iwobi,ndidi,etebo ,kalu ekong,osimen ,d rest are replaceable
Those attackers dribbling Collins anyhow according to you…are they NPFL players…??? LMAO
Pls tell your homebased players to start with walking straight into clubs in Europe first (even if na 2div teams).
Once they can do that, they can start dreaming of displacing those who have been playing successfully in Europe for years in the SE.
Ikuowem Utin was like the star leftback in NPFL before moving to Israel….ask him if it has been an easy switch. Lolz
Which Collins attackers are dribbling any how????Collins is one of the strongest leftbacks in the German Bundisliga which I follow closely because of the project am doing on the league,Collins is even ranked among the players with the highest booking this season because of his no nonsense style of play and it is muted that he might not go down with perdaborn because of the high demand for players like him in German Bundisliga. Oga abeg find another one talk……….I don’t really blame Nigerians because we have been blinded and made lazy by the unnecessary quota system that we can’t even spot the differences in quality any longer…..Shehu abdullahi has always been a very young and talented midfielder but all his career he has always wanted to play in Small leagues in order not to miss regular football thereby always getting international callups but I thank God people are noticing him now because the club standard of SE players has increased drastically under Rhor.
The summary of all these comments is that NNF is blaming her failure on Rorh. I wish we have think tanks around those at the helm of affairs in the glass hose or wherever their office is now.
How can rohr be coerced to inviting players from a league that is in shambles? A league were securing an away victory is rare. The truth is that we’ve grown in leaps and bounds since Roth took over and we should allow him continue what he’s doing. If our league was half as decent as the south African league,players would be picked regularly