The Nigeria Football Federation during an executive meeting held on Monday has declared that no player will henceforth be begged to wear the nation’s team jersey and that it will longer tolerate any kind of indiscipline from players who wear the national teams’ jersey.
This development arose after Salisu’s U23 Super Eagles team failed to qualify for this year’s U-23 AFCON. The team lost 2-0 to Guinea during the second leg qualifier games in Rabat, Morocco after they were held to a stalemate in Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja. Their failure to qualify for this year’s AFCON also means that they will not compete at the 2024 Olympic men’s football tournament in Paris, France.
Furthermore, the Super Eagles suffered an unexpected defeat to Guinea-Bissau during the first leg of the AFCON qualifiers this month at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja. A feat that saw the Super Eagles drop 14 points to 40th place in the recent FIFA ranking.
Disapproving of these results, the NFF committee led by President Ibrahim Gusau frowned at the recent poor runs.
“The board expressed distaste with recent results of the Super Eagles and the U-23 Boys, and fully endorsed the NFF President’s stated position that the federation will never beg any player to wear the nation’s colours,” NFF said in a statement.
“Whoever is not motivated for one reason or the other to represent Nigeria should always be bold enough to state this at the point of invitation. Any perceived lackadaisical attitude by any player wearing Nigeria’s colours at the international level will no longer be treated with kid gloves.”
However, the NFF committee conveyed happiness with the winning mentality of the Super Falcons of late. The nine times African Women Champions have won their last three international friendly games in preparation for the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
“The Board stated that it will do even more to prepare the team for the big challenge with another grade A friendly match in Europe and a two-week camping in Australia before the kick-off of the tournament on 20 July.”
