Super Eagles head coach, Sunday Oliseh, has given a hint that about eight members of the CHAN Eagles would be promoted into the mainstream team.
Oliseh made the disclosure after Nigeria’s ouster from the ongoing Orange Championship of African Nations CHAN 2016 in Rwanda.
Oliseh said he is still proud of his players, despite the poor outing.
“I am still very proud of my boys. You have to look at the circumstances they had to work under, that is the circumstances by which I am saying I am very proud of them.
“The boys gave their best but it wasn’t meant to be. One of the lessons learnt is that when next we are going for a tournament, I think we can prepare a little better.”
“I think about 7 or 8 players can migrate from this team to the mainstream Super Eagles.”
Despite failing to qualify for the knockout stage of the African Nations Championship, the Super Eagles coach noted that he is still very proud of his players, having played under some unfavourable circumstances.
Oliseh, who is looking into the future, said after the match: “The way forward is that we will try to take the positives out of this. And we have certain players that we can integrate into the first complete team. “I am still very proud of my boys. You have to look at the circumstances they had to work under, that is the circumstances by which I am saying I am very proud of them.”
The coach disagreed with those who think he gambled by not starting star striker Chisom Chikatara, saying: “It was not a gamble. The doctor gave Usman Mohammed green light, but Chikatara did not get that much of a green light. So, the one who had the green light was the one I used.”
He also refused to accept that the substitution of Usman Mohammed, who is widely rated as the midfield motivator, affected the team. “I don’t think it’s not every time I took him out of the game that the Nigeria midfield collapsed,” he said. “I think it is just a question of the fact that he is a very good player and that is it.” Defending certain players who were singled out as weak links in the team, he said: “I think it is going to be very unfair to single out players in a team.
“That is unfair. We lost as a team. We won as a team. I think the boys did their best, but it was not meant to be.” Oliseh concluded by choosing to look at the positive sides to the championship. “Nigerians should be proud of the boys. In as much as we wanted to go much more further, we are very sorry that we couldn’t go further and make them happy. But they should be proud of the boys because of the way the boys comported themselves in the first and second game. Even in this game, but that is how it is,” he said. “There are lots of positives we picked from this tournament. You saw the way we played the first game and the way we played the second game. And you saw the flashes sometimes here today. Reality is that morally, we had to struggle a bit.”
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has apologised to the Federal Government and Nigerians for the Super Eagles’ failure at the 4th African Nations Championship in Rwanda.
Leading the Group C table before kick-off of the final matches on Tuesday, the Super Eagles failed to fly in a 0-1 defeat by Guinea in Rubavu that eliminated Nigeria from the continental house party in Rwanda.
NFF President, Amaju Pinnick, reiterated that the African Nations Championship is “both developmental and preparatory for bigger challenges,” and said without mincing words that the Federation would now shift focus to the qualification race for the bigger Africa Cup of Nations.
“We apologise to Nigerians for the poor outing of the Super Eagles in Rwanda, but we toe the line of CAF which states that CHAN is a developmental and preparatory competition. Of course, as Nigerians, we love to win always, and we feel bad when we don’t.
“I want us to take the positives from this tournament. A player like Chisom Chikatara broke onto the global platform and players like Usman Mohammed, Chima Akas, Ikechukwu Ezenwa, Austin Oboroakpo and Ifeanyi Mathew confirmed their class.
“For me, it is disappointing that we did not progress. But the NFF will now focus on the 2017 AFCON qualifiers, and start preparations early for the remaining rounds,” Pinnick said.
The Super Eagles have a quick, top-of-the-table double –take against Pharaohs of Egypt in the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying race, with the first leg in Nigeria on March 23 and the return leg in Egypt five days later.
In June, the Super Eagles take on Chad in N’Djamena before hosting Tanzania in the final round of matches in September.
