As the home-based Eagles prepare to battle Sudan in their second match at the ongoing Championship of African Nations (CHAN 2024), a former national team defender, Bob Osim believes Nigeria’s best domestic league players are not in the squad.
However, Sports247 noted that, while many observers blame mass exodus of talents from the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) for shoddy players in the current CHAN Eagles, Osim believes it’s due to favouritism.
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Some other critics blamed the CHAN Eagles’ 1-0 loss to Senegal in their first group match of this year’s championship on poor tactics from the team’s coach, Eric Chelle, but 45-year-old Osim, who played only nine matches for the Super Eagles, insists the setback is beyond tactical issues.
The former midfielder-cum-defender, who is now a club gaffer, declared: “The truth of the matter is that it’s not all about the coach alone. It’s our system. The system is poor, and the interests of people is another aspect.
“People put interest in the team for different reasons. Some want their boys to be part of it so that they can sell them to clubs in Europe.
“Others want to exploit the team to their own advantage. That’s why there are some players there who were not included on merit.”
Osim, who played during his active days for Calabar Rovers of Cross River State, Sunshine Stars of Akure, Iwuanyanwu Nationale of Owerri, Rangers International of Enugu, Enyimba of Aba, Heartland of Owerri and UNICEM Rovers of Calabar, stressed that many good players were left out of Nigeria’s squad to the ongoing CHAN.
“There are many players who did well in the league but, because they are not from teams that have people who can push them, they are not reckoned with.
“That’s why they are not picked to represent Nigeria. So, we did not go with our best team to this CHAN, as far as I am concerned,” Osim averred.
