Former international players of Nigeria have faulted the timing of the ongoing unrest in the camp of the Super Eagles in Rabat, Morocco.
Super Eagles are in Rabat, getting set to play against the Panthers of Gabon in the first semifinal of the World Cup qualifiers.
Dimeji Lawal, Ifeanyi Udeze and Sam Sodje in separate interviews said the players chose the wrong time to carry out the boycott.
They argued that the match slated for Thursday with Gabon was crucial for Nigeria and the players were expected to focus but rather decided to protest over unpaid bonuses and allowances.
Lawal said: “No one is in support of the NFF for owing the players allowances but this is not the right out to stage a boycott. They should have done this before now or even after the African qualifiers.”
For Udeze, the players deserved to ask for their right but they should have thought about doing so at another time.
“I still believe they will be strong enough to beat Gabon but my concern is the fact that Tuesday’s training is the most important. Some players just arrived camp on Tuesday including Victor Osimhen but sadly, the team could not train. How can we explain that? Before the match on Thursday, how fit and ready will the players be to face Gabon?
“The right thing to do is to pay them immediately after every match but the time they chose they chose to be paying after a few games was the error because in this part of the world, it won’t be easy and now there is a backlog. Too bad for us at a critical time like this.”
Sodje on his part also noted that the players should have shown professionalism.
“At the end of the day, the players will have to blame themselves if the country fails to win the ticket. We all knew how we got to this stage by cheer luck and other circumstances. The players should have maintained focus for now and protest later,” Sodje said.
The NFF is yet to officially react to the current impasse in the camp of the team.
