By Joe Apu
Hopes of players in the home based Eagles to get a shirt in the World Cup qualifying fixture against Cameroon are not guaranteed.
This assertion was coming from the President of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Amaju Pinnick who spoke to Brila FM yesterday, stating that there were no assurances that players of the CHAN Eagles would be invited for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers against Cameroon after the team’s disappointing 1-0 defeat to Benin Republic last Sunday.
Pinnick, who watched the CHAN Eagles suffered a first ever defeat to the Squirrels at senior level, expressed disappointment with the performance of the team.
The FA chief pointed out that the team had “some of the most highly rated players” in the NPFL, but failed to live up to expectation.
When he was asked if any of the players would be invited for Nigeria’s World Cup qualifier against African champions, Cameroon next month, Pinnick offered no support.
“I wasn’t really impressed with our players. I don’t know what happened.
“They are all very highly rated players, some of the best in our league but to me they didn’t live up to expectation.
‘They didn’t live up to expectations. Some of the things that happened in the game must have affected them, but we’ve spoken with them.
‘The Super Eagles technical crew will determine whether these players are good enough for the Super Eagles,’ he quipped.
The defeat to Benin was also coach Salisu Yusuf’s first loss in three matches since his appointment in 2016.
Salisu was in charge of the Eagles on interim basis until the appointment of Gernot Rohr.
He led a mix of foreign and an home based player on a European tour, playing friendlies against Mali and Luxembourg.
Nigeria defeated the Eagles of Mali 1-0 and eased to a 3-1 win over Luxembourg.