Keep record of players used in friendlies, Chukwu advises NFF

FORMER Super Eagles handler, Christian Chukwu, believes the senior national team’s transformation process would succeed if the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) began to keep records of players used in tune up matches played since the team failed to qualify for the 2015 African Nations Cup.

Speaking on the backdrop of the list of players released on Tuesday for the Super Eagles’ friendlies against South Africa and Bolivia this month, Chukwu explained that the main target of the friendly matches should be to assess players for future use, adding that if the performance of every player invited for a particular game was not documented, it would be difficult for the coach to get the best legs for important matches.

Although Chukwu agreed that the bulk of the foreign-based players invited for the Eagles’ friendlies against South Africa and Bolivia were benchwarmers in their clubs, he advised the coaches to use the games to work on the psychology and commitment of the players to achieve the desired results.

Drawing from past experience when coaches did not get it right players selection, he advised the interim technical crew, led by Daniel Amokachi, to give the domestic and foreign-based players a level playing ground when assessing their performance, just as he urged Nigerians to stop judging the players by the results of the friendlies.

“The friendlies organized for the Super Eagles against South Africa and Bolivia are good for the team at this point in time, but it would be useless if the NFF did not keep the records of the players used in the tune up matches. You will observe that some players invited for the friendly against Cote d’Ivoire before the 2015 Nations Cup are not in this squad.

I don’t expect the coaches to stick with a particular set of players now because they are still looking out for more players. But keeping tabs on the players is important as it would give the coach a rich pool of players to choose from at any given time.”