As reactions continue trailing the disappointing outing by Nigeria’s home-based national team at this year’s Championship of African Nations (CHAN 2024), a former Super Eagles’ midfielder, Friday Ekpo has given the ill-fated players hope of featuring in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers next month.
Sports247 gathered that, with Nigeria set to host Rwanda and play away to South Africa in two must-win games at the restart of the World Cup qualifiers in September, many analysts have written off the possibility of any home-based player getting a call-up to the main team.
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However, Ekpo, who was part of Nigeria’s bronze-winning squad at AFCON ’92 in Senegal, declared emphatically that the CHAN 2024 lads are lucky that their team was handled by the main Eagles’ current technical adviser, Eric Chelle.
He reckoned that Chelle must have seen one or two assets about some of the players he trained before and during the competition, to the extent that he could still look up to them again once they remain active with their clubs in the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL).
Ekpo reasoned, “First and foremost, I don’t think any of them that is playing regularly has blown their chances of playing in the main team. This is because it’s still the same coach that is in charge of the main team that’s also with the CHAN side.
“He knows what he’s doing. I believe he will pick those that he wants and tell them his game plan. He’ll tell everyone what he wants them to play and pick the ones that can fit in.”
Ekpo stressed that Chelle will simply cross check each training session and match he had with the home-based players, then thoroughly assess them to see if any of them fit into his targets for the upcoming clashes with Amavubi of Rwanda and South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
“The coach will just evaluate the time he had together with the players. If he finds good ones among them, they can still get the chance to be invited for another game,” Ekpo posited.
