Reactions continue to trail the Super Eagles team list ahead of Nigeria must-win 2022 World Cup Playoff clash with West African rivals Ghana.
Oghenekaro Etebo’s surprise inclusion into the team despite not playing a competitive match for English Premier League strugglers Watford in over four months due to injury is generating heated debate.
The 26-year-old required surgery due to a torn quad muscle injury and just returned to training with the Hornets for the first time since September last year.
“Look at Etebo’s inclusion, he has been out for five, six months injured,” former Super Eagles defender Ifeanyi Udeze noted on a Lagos-based sports radio station.
“He hasn’t played any competitive games for Watford, only a few reserve games. He might just get a few minutes game time for the Hornets before the national team camp opens on March 21.”
“There is no way somebody who is just coming from injury would be 100 percent fit for a high calibre match like Ghana. No disrespect to Etebo, he is a good player but the fact still remains that he is just returning from injury and the Ghana match is not one we should be using as experience,” Udeze insisted.
Meanwhile, former Super Eagles coach Samson Siasia has also faulted the decision of Austin Eguavoen to invite new players to the squad.
Siasia, in a chat on the radio station said the list is not a good list as it wasn’t cautious enough.
“You need to play people that understand themselves. If you bring new ones it becomes difficult for them to understand themselves and play the pattern you want to play,” Siasia said.
“For me it’s not the right decision to bring new players, you are better off with the ones you know already that have been playing together and understand themselves because you have three days to practice before you go to Ghana. So for me this is not the right list,” he noted.