A former assistant to the former coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Finidi George says the players of the senior national team of Nigeria are not keen on qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Yema Olarewaju who worked with Finidi at Enyimba made this known during a radio interview on Lagos Talks monitored by our editorial team. He cited his reasons on why he insisted on that the players are not showing the same desire like Nigerians have in seeing the team qualify for the world cup.
He said it was the players mentality that affected the performance of the team in the world cup qualifiers games handled by Finidi, where they were held to a 1-1 draw by South Africa and also beaten 1-2 by Benin Republic.
“Nigerians actually want the World Cup, but the players don’t want to go to the World Cup. They are not interested, take it to the bank”, he said.
“When Finidi was the Super Eagles coach, six of the regulars were not available for the game, and the game was in the summer.
“I usually don’t miss Super Eagles training because Uyo is close to Aba. As at four days before the game, the players had an important World Cup qualifier; almost all the players in Europe had already reported to their national teams despite their hectic schedule,” he said.
“Hakimi had already joined the Morocco camp, but our players were busy clubbing in Lagos when camp had opened.”
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
