Coach Salisu Yusuf recently released a list of 23 home-based players for the African Nations Championship (CHAN) billed for Morocco, next January.
In preparation for the bi-annual tourney, the home-based Eagles will play in a Super 6 championship at the Sani Abacha Stadium in Kano.
While I will like to commend the gaffer for extending invitation to some youthful players, I was however taken aback by the inclusion of some domestic league and CHAN veterans in the squad. Also listed by Coach Salisu are players who are already winding up their careers and should have no business travelling to the North African nation with the rest of the team.
Leading the list of players, I expected the coach to exempt from the squad is goalkeeper, Ikechukwu Ezenwa, who is arguably the first choice of the Super Eagles and had played at bigger stage than the CHAN competition. Ezenwa is already an established player in the Eagles and he is not likely to have enough motivation in Morocco. Also, the Enyimba net minder is officially 29 years and has few years left to mind goal for the national team.
In Ezenwa’s place, a much younger goalkeeper with lesser exposure would have been ideal. The tourney would afford such keeper the opportunity to warm himself into the hearts of scouts of foreign clubs. Also, Ezenwa’s Kano Pillars’ compatriot, Theophilus Afelokhai, who is already in his 30s has no business in Morocco for the aforesaid reasons.
In the same vein, Stephen Eze, Osas Okoro and Kalu Orji, who had played in one or two CHAN competitions should have been exempted for debutants.
Thank God, Salisu was wise enough not to include the ageless Kano Pillars striker, Rabiu Ali, in his squad this time. Not that Rabiu will not get the goals for the team in Morocco but after CHAN, he is not likely to graduate into the Super Eagles first team or get a club abroad as he is already in his mid 30s.
For a tournament like CHAN, the aim should not be about winning the competition but it should rather be seen as an avenue to discover talents and to give them the needed exposure in order to grow their confidence for future and bigger championships.
Scouts of several European, top African and Asian clubs are likely to make the trip to Morocco in January in their search for budding talents for their respective teams.
For those scouts, they are unlikely to put forward the name of a 32-year-old player that may standout during the competition; rather, they will be more interested in a teenager or any player in his early 20s with potentials.
If young players in our domestic league are offered adequate opportunities in our national teams, especially the home-based Eagles, there will be no reason for them to enslave themselves by signing contracts in obscure or less fancied leagues across the globe.
Picking 23 players from 20 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) clubs and another 18 Nigeria National League (NNL) teams should pose little problem to Coach Salisu.
There is no point recycling tired legs for a competition that is targeted at discovering new talents. Remember, it was the same CHAN route that helped former Abia Warriors striker, Chisom Chikatara turned professional.
