Former Super Eagles striker Osaze Odemwingie says the emergence of quick and skilful wingers in the senior national team of Nigeria has changed the way the team use to play in the past.
Odemwingie said the Super Eagles team of old has players with intimidating physical presence but that is not the case with the present breed of players in the team before pointing out the players who are changing the narrative.
“A lot of potential especially with the performance at the last AFCON in Egypt, they have a lot of passion, I will say we are going down in terms of size, not of the Super Eagles we are used to with physical presence but definitely with a lot of potential”, he said.
“Although Odion Ighalo and Kelechi Iheanacho with a little bit of physique, but looking at some others like Moses Simon, Henry Onyekuru, Samuel Chukwueze, Kalu and others, when you see their stature, you will be like Nigerian football is now turning to skills and speed, compared to the likes of Rashidi Yekini, Sunday Oliseh who played for the Eagles in the past.
In same vein he also called for a blend of experienced and young players in the team to give them the desire result citing the AFCON 2019 loss to Algeria as one that happened due to the experience of the Algerian team.
” I think we need to get the balance right. Football is not just about young legs running around, you need a lot of experience, you need exposure; we need to get the balance right. Looking back at the game against Algeria, a lot of talent, desire but maybe not enough experience and the Algerian team was a little bit older than our team on that day.
Ade Emmanuel
