The debate and arguments over why some players fail to replicate their fine form for their clubs in Europe when they play for the senior national team of Nigeria is one that will linger on for a while, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
For Nigeria the space has been flooded with questions surrounding why a talent like Victor Boniface for instance hasn’t score for the team, despite scoring for fun in Germany for Bayer Leverkusen.
Udinese goalkeeper Maduka Okoye is another who hasn’t transfer his club form to the national team of Nigeria. A situation that saw him lose first choice spot to Stanley Nwabali who plays in a less glamorous League which is the Premier South Africa League for modest side Chippa United.
AFCON 2013 winner Efe Ambrose while speaking on the possible reason said most times playing for a national team is entirely different with the short time require to train and play a game, and most times one is not familiar with how to deal with opposition defenders and forwards.
” Playing for your national team is totally different from playing for your club side. That I can tell you because I have been there before”, Ambrose told OwnGoalNigeria.com in an exclusive chat.
” At club level , you spend time on the training ground working on the opposition, it is totally different from the national team where you have just a few days to train before games most times. There are times you even play with a new player after a day or two of training.
” Then also you have to understand the concept of learning and unlearning various ways to play in order for you to adapt. It’s not a Nigerian issue because even a big superstar like Vinicius Jnr isn’t matching his record for Real Madrid with the Brazilian national team”, he concluded.
