“European football is different from Africa” – Former Super Eagles midfielder urges Eguavoen to axe poor-performing players from national team

Former Super Eagles and Enyimba International midfielder, Duke Udi, has prompted Interim Super Eagles coach, Augustine Eguavoen, to act swiftly and axe poor-performing players from the Nigerian national team, Soccernet.ng reports.

Nigeria were unbeaten in their AFCON 2025 qualifying campaign up until they faced Rwanda on Monday where they lost 2-1. The performance of the three-time AFCON winners lacked quality, and that riled Udi up.

The former Giwa FC coach questioned the commitment of the players to the Super Eagles as he cited they play better football for their clubs in Europe.

“There are some players in the Super Eagles squad now, that Eguavoen will know that they are only good at club side they are not good for the national team. About five players now.

This also happened with Westerhof, but he had the brains to notice and stop calling up those players. Some players can be flashy and doing well in Europe, but the African terrain is a different terrain. African football is different from European football.

Some players succeed in both Africa and Europe, and Osimhen is one of them. He can adjust to any environment, but some players can not.

So what do you do as a coach? You try other players, Nigeria has players around the world who are doing well, give them chance!

Football and coaching is about risk. Once you start fearing the unknown, you can’t be a good coach,” the 48-year-old said in an interview with Brila.

Nigeria have a lot of ground to cover to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and might need to inculcate some of the points Duke Udi made to make immediate progress.