Nigeria will be among the favourites to win the continental championship when Africa’s best teams meet in Ivory Coast in January
Former Nigeria international Dimeji Lawal believes that Jose Peseiro’s Super Eagles will be successful if he trusts players born in the country, Soccernet.ng reports.
The Super Eagles squad is a fine mixture of Nigeria-born and overseas-born professionals, with many of them playing in Europe.
Nigeria have one of the best attacks in world football, with the country boasting the likes of Victor Osimhen, Victor Boniface, Umar Sadiq, Kelechi Iheanacho, Taiwo Awoniyi, and Terem Moffi, who were all born in Nigeria.
However, Ademola Lookman, Joe Aribo, Nathan Tella, Ola Aina, and Semi Ajayi were born in England, while Calvin Bassey’s place of birth was Italy.
Lawal believes Super Eagles stars born in Nigeria often show more seriousness and commitment to the national cause than their overseas-born counterparts.
While knocking Peseiro for not having a solid team ahead of the AFCON, the former Real Madrid B midfielder is convinced that the Super Eagles can still impress in Ivory Coast should the Portuguese head coach rely more on serious and more determined Nigeria-born stars.
“I am not happy with Super Eagles’ preparation for the 2024 AFCON, which will start just next month,” Lawal told the Guardian.
“The coach is still inviting overseas-born players for different games.
“That a player is performing well in the English League, German Bundesliga, or Spanish La Liga does not mean the player will be outstanding at the AFCON. It is a different championship meant for tough players.
“Kanu Nwankwo, who was the best in Europe during his days, could not score at the AFCON throughout his career as a footballer. This shows how tough the AFCON competition is.
“Players like Victor Osimhen, Chukwueze, Ndidi, Iheanacho, and others who grew up in Nigeria and played in our domestic football system understand the seriousness and how to approach games with African teams.
“A player that does not have attachment to Nigeria cannot go the extra mile to get positive result.
“How many times have you heard that a foreign-born Nigerian player gets injured playing for the country? We need serious, selfless, and committed players to win AFCON.
“You cannot expose overseas-born Nigerian players to the scorching sun of Africa and expect good results. What happened in the Zimbabwe and Lesotho World Cup qualifiers is a clear testimony of what I am saying. Nations Cup is not for players that lack patriotic zeal and commitment to die on the pitch to achieve results for the country.”
Nigeria have been drawn together with hosts Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau in the group stage of the AFCON.
This post was last modified on December 5, 2023 12:01 pm
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I'm sick and tired of these ex international with their myopic and biased view of players born abroad who are Nigerians. What kind of rubbish talk is " Players born in Nigeria are more committed than those born abroad." You guys have torn this country apart on ethnic and religious lines, even bringing it to football, now you want to bring division to the National team, on the basis of home born players are more committed than abroad born players.... You better talk to your head and make it correct, Mr agent Lawal, looking to promote his home based clients even if them no sabi play. Useless comment!
This is a very stupid assertion. The speaker is far more stupid. It's very damning that our football has denegerated to this despicable level. What a pity?
So where was Nwankwo Kanu born? Stupid write up. Any player that is good enough to represent Nigeria should not be denied the opportunity just because of his place of birth. If one may ask how have the Nigerian born players done in recent years in the CAF club competitions? Only better planning and true professionalism on the part of those who run football in Nigeria will bring us success. Stop the divisive language.
wow just Nigeria we need quality players we don't need
to know any place of birth if have quality to done our job ......
Nigeria does not have a decent development system for players. what basically happens is a player makes it overseas and gets a call to the natl team. Our players also need to feel they are given the necessary standards for peak performance.That is why we struggle. These old heads must be involved in development, not media comments.
Will need serious players in Nigeria national team show that then can successful in incoming nation cup start in January
The argument is not balanced. Reuben Agboola wasn't born in Nigeria yet gave his all to the Super Eagles even when he didn't play for an A club.
This advice is meaningless. A good player is a good player. Selection should be based on current form. If Busayo Saka of Arsenal had been available to play for NIGERIA, would he have been rejected? There are many players born in Nigeria who are not able to play for NIGERIA either in attack or defence. Always get the best for NIGERIA .
Where did Lawal get his statistics from?
They have succeeded in dividing this country along ethnic and religious lines.
Please, they should leave our sports, football especially for us. This is the only thing that brings joy to so many Nigerians and he should not bring this divisive "foreign born" Vs "local born" rhetoric here.
We won't tolerate any form of division in our national team.
The coach should field in only players who are in-form and committed not, where they were born.
Complete thrash. This B team player knows nothing whatsoever about football. A jealous fool.
I was surprised that every blog post around online didn't have as much originality as I found on your blog. where does this information come from