Why local league players can’t make Eagles team to AFCON, by Lawal

Former Super Eagles midfielder, Garba Lawal has said that the lack of live telecast of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) has denied Nigerians the opportunity of assessing the quality of players in the country’s premier league since the start of the season.

The NPFL, which enters Match Day 15 tomorrow in various centres across the country, has been unable to churn out players for the national team except Katsina United goalkeeper, Ikechukwu Ezenwa, who has been the only regular invitee to the national camp.

Speaking with The Guardian yesterday, Lawal, who is Head coach of Real Stars Football Club, said the results from the NPFL had shown some improvement with clubs either winning or drawing their matches away from home.

“The NPFL has been fantastic so far this season. In some of the matches played in the league, there have been impressive results recorded with teams playing draws and even pulling victories in away fixtures surprisingly,” he said.

When asked if there was any possibility of any player from the NPFL making it to the Super Eagles for the Africa Cup of Nations Cup (AFCON) in Egypt, Lawal explained that it would be difficult to truly assess players in the league, who one didn’t have the privileged to watch live except the CAF’s championships

“How can one determine a player’s quality let alone recommend him for national call up when one is not opportune to watch him live. I am here in Kaduna, and it’s not possible for me to watch some of the league games except the CAF’s matches.”

“The CAF Champions League, and Confederation Cup are the ones I can talk about. I watched matches of Lobi Stars and Rangers in the CAF competitions, but I cannot talk on the league that I didn’t watch,” he said.Speaking further, Lawal said: “We have not played a game yet in the NNL because it’s still on standby. Hopefully, the NNL is going to start next week Saturday as scheduled.”