Gomo Onduku has expressed his disappointment with Nigeria’s decision to withdraw from the African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifying tie against Ivory Coast.
The Bayelsa United forward reckons it would have been a big opportunity for the home-based players on the fringes of the Super Eagles to prove themselves at international level.
“I’m not happy with Nigeria’s withdrawal from the CHAN qualifiers because it would have exposed those of us from the local league that have been called up regularly to the national camp to gain more international experience,” he told supersport.com.
“I was looking forward to the qualifying matches because I had been invited to the senior camp five straight times, but haven’t yet made my debut.
“It would have been easier to play for the home-based team than to vie for a place in the Super Eagles complete with the foreign-based players. However, one has to understand the federation’s position that there is no cash to prosecute the qualifiers.”
Onduku is also confident Nigeria would have qualified for the tournament for the first time, despite failing in their previous attempts.
He said Stephen Keshi had built up the home-based Eagles to a standard that had made them one of the favourites to even win the tournament.
“There isn’t any home-based national team in Africa that has the kind of experience Nigeria has acquired since Keshi became coach of the Eagles,” he said.
“There are two or three of them playing regularly in the main team, and there’s a full squad that have impressed playing against crack sides like Angola, Egypt and Peru. I’m confident that not only would we have qualified, but we would have been the team to beat in the competition.”
Onduku has been a regular invitee to the Super Eagles camp since the 2013 Africa Nations Cup qualifying tie against Liberia.
He scored 10 goals with Sharks last season in all competitions before joining Bayelsa United at the start of the current campaign.
