super Eagles coach Sunday Oliseh has
proposed a squad of 18 overseas-based professionals and five players
from the domestic league for next month’s Africa Cup of Nations
qualifier in Tanzania.
However, there are suggestions that
Oliseh should accommodate more players from the league for the match
against the Taifa Stars.
“Oliseh wants to list 18 professionals
from overseas for the match in Tanzania, while five places will be left
for the players in the local league. But some officials have asked that
he increases the number of the players from the league,” a top official
informed AfricanFootball.com.
The Nigeria Football Federation’s Technical Committee Chairman, Chief Felix Anyasi-Agwu, told The PUNCH that the list of the players in the Nigerian league has already been cleared for the coach.
He said, “The list of those coming in
from Europe or elsewhere has not been submitted to us and there’s no
problem with that. He is still working and talking with the players he
wants and he needs the time to get the right people.
“What has been dealt with is the squad
coming in from the domestic league and that had to be settled first,
obviously because they are resuming first and that had to be taken care
of first. They are getting into camp by August 17. It is not about a few
of them but a full team because they have to critically look at the
players and pick exactly those they want with regard to the level of the
competition. And so everything is working out well.”
Oliseh and his assistants will trim the squad down to the number they want for Dar es Salaam.
The overseas-based pros are expected to
fly directly to Tanzania, where they will join up with the coaches and
the players from the league.
The new Eagles coach has maintained that
Nigeria must beat Tanzania in Dar es Salaam to raise hopes of
qualifying for the 2017 finals holding in Gabon.
He said, “It is going to be very, very
difficult, but I believe we can qualify. All we have to do is look at
ourselves, try to improve our game and hopefully we will qualify.”
Nigeria won the opening game against
Chad 2-0 in the qualifying series. Rivals Egypt are leading Nigeria in
the group by goals difference. Nigeria under Stephen Keshi failed to
qualify for the 2015 edition held in Equatorial Guinea.
PUNCH
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