Former Super Eagles assistant coach, Joe Erico, has faulted the action of Stephen Keshi in featuring Europe-based players in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Rwanda last week.
Keshi had taken 11 foreign-based players and 11 players from the domestic league to Kigali for the encounter which ended goalless but Erico, a former goalkeeper, said the home-based players could have done better all by themselves, going by their performances in recent friendly games against Angola and Liberia.
He said, “I’m happy that Keshi warned the players that whoever of them that didn’t want to play should forget about the team. I don’t know if Keshi said he would exclude some foreign-based players or not but if I were he I would have featured the team of domestic league players against Rwanda after seeing their performances in the friendly games, and I would have been satisfied no matter the outcome of the encounter.
“Thank God we did not lose; at least we got a point in Kigali. I believe Keshi must have seen the problems in the team and by now he should have solutions to them.
“The return leg fixture is very important because we must win to advance to the next stage. I expect the coach to be bold enough to make the necessary changes in the team before June.”
Erico also frowned at the overuse of some players in the junior national teams, saying the coaches managing them were lazy and desperate to win.
“Recycling players for junior national teams is evidence of laziness on the part of the coaches. If the coaches are determined to bring new players of the right ages into the teams, we can succeed. They have to ignore the results – whether win or lose – and focus on the development of our football,” he said.
“We always encounter these age problems when we want to win by all means at age-grade competitions. If we accept the fact that we win some and lose some, then we can afford to focus on development.”
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