Former Grasshopper of Switzerland attacker, Duke Udi has fired a warning shot at Super Eagles’ coach, Eric Sekou Chelle, urging him to invite only his best players for the upcoming Unity Cup in London, Sports247 reports.
The four-nation Unity Cup is set to hold from May 27th to 31st at English Premier League club, Brentford’s GTech Stadium, and many Nigerian football fans are angling for a purely experimental squad to prosecute the competition.
Read Also:NSC Director-General Bukola Olopade Praises Ogun State For Providing ’21st Century Facilities’
However, with the Eagles scheduled to battle eternal rivals, Ghana in the competition’s second semi-final on May 28th, after Jamaica tango Trinidad and Tobago a day before, Udi reckons that the invitational competition should be used as a build-up outing ahead of the resumption of FIFA 2026 World Cup qualifiers in September.
The product of Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) of Ibadan declared emphatically, “In the World Cup qualifiers, we still have some crucial games to play. In my own perspective, and in my own personal opinion as a coach and former player, if you have a crucial game, it’s good to use this type of match as a build-up.
So, what I would have done if I had been in Eric shoes would be to use the players that I will need for the World Cup qualifiers.”
Duke Udi added that trying to use the Unity Cup as an experimental outing to test new players would cause distractions and destabilise the squad ahead of their next qualification games – at home against Rwanda and away to group leaders South Africa in September.
The former Flying Eagles’ maverick star added, “If you are shop-changing and inviting different players for the Unity Cup, but those players are not the ones you will use for the World Cup qualifiers, I don’t think that’s proper. What’s the essence of doing that?
“We want to qualify for the World Cup, which is the most important thing we are looking at. So, if you want to bring in new players, you should bring only those you will invite for the World Cup qualifiers and use them for the Unity Cup.
“We should not bring players just because you want to please some people or satisfy some certain authority; then you now put your job in disarray.”
The outspoken ex-youth international concluded with a satirical verdict that anyone urging Chelle to experiment with the Unity Cup is reducing the Super Eagles to a squad for training players who are desperate to wear Nigeria’s senior national team’s jersey.
“The Super Eagles is not a place where you will come and train players. The national team is for the best players of each country to be invited … not where you come and train players. That’s my opinion, though,” Udi posited.
