Owolabi tasks nff over new eagles

A former international, Felix Owolabi, has called on the Nigeria Football Federation to boost domestic football in the country in it attempt to rebuild the Super Eagles.

Owolabi said going forward, there was need to properly evaluate the state of the game in the country with a critical look at the missing links. He argued that the domestic league and the Federation Cup were not enough to serve as feeders to the senior national team, the Super Eagles. He said: “The growth of the game domestically will always impact on the senior team.
The ideal situation is to bring in pros to fight for shirts but now it is the home-based that are fighting for recognition. “The NFF should get a very good coach who will raise a solid team from the domestic scene but the problem is that the two competitions the league and federation cup are not sufficient. We need at least three more. We used to have a football competition among the universities. We need players from higher institutions and secondary schools.
“Our National Sports Festival should also be taken seriously especially because those who are not in school but are talented will feature for their states in the NSF. The NFF should get sponsors to revive some of these competitions that produced many great players in the country.”
Owolabi argued that some player entered the Eagles straight from the secondary schools and the universities in the past but such things are no longer happening. He noted that it was wrong to only depend on just a few players abroad in a country of over 140 million people. “A coach who is ready to work will go round to discover hidden talents in the country.
We have a good chance now to raise a new team since we are not in the Nations Cup. This country is blessed with good players but we have to fish them out,” he added. The 1980 Nations Cup winner stressed that it was important to have a proper structure for the existing competitions.
“The salaries, the field of play, coaches and all should have the required standard. It we have a good template, there will be development in the game,” he said.