super eagles

Former Nigerian player, Emmanuel Babayaro, has attributed the reluctance in Super Eagles’ Head Coach, Stephen Okechukwu Keshi, in recalling the like of Premiership duo of Mikel Obi and Osaze Odemwingie and other foreign-based senior players to the team on the fear of the influence they would wield in the team. The Senior Babayaro, passed the verdict while fielding questions from the media at the Glass House Abuja yesterday, argued that Nigerian coaches have failed in the management of the senior players, citing Samson Siasia’s exclusion of Vincent Enyeama from the Eagles’ qualifier team for the 2012 Nations Cup. “A lot of these our coaches in trying to stamp their authority do things wrongly, just like when Samson Siasia thought that the best way be in control was to exclude Vincent Enyeama from his team. Once ego comes into play in terms of stamping authority, we get it wrong. If we should be honest with ourselves, Osaze is unarguably one of our best strikers now in terms of present form. I think the like of Osaze and Mikel are 110 per cent needed in the team. The only thing is just knowing how to manage them. “I’m not Keshi’s fan and I can say it any day and time. I might be in future because we have to forgive but the truth is that I’m not one of his fans even though he was in the right direction on the steps he has taken so far. He has given the home-based players some hope. It was from this sense of belonging that we discovered Ahmed Musa who is now a foreign-based player.