21st August, 2013
Super Eagles Coach Stephen Keshi has explained the rationale behind inviting 24 home-based professionals when only five of them will eventually join the 18 overseas-based stars for the big game against Malawi, as well as for the international friendly against the Etalons of Burkina Faso in Kaduna on Tuesday, 10 September.
Keshi is already planning ahead as he said the exercise will allow him discover more players for next year’s Africa Nations Championships (CHAN) to be staged in South Africa; a place that is fast becoming a good hunting ground for the Eagles’ gaffer.
“We are calling up 24 home boys in order to identify new players for the 2014 African Nations Championship, for which we have already qualified,” said Keshi.
The home based Eagles secured a berth in CHAN 2014 after beating their Ivorian counterparts to one of the tickets up for grab.
However recent developments suggest that some key members of the local squad might become ineligible for the tournament proper as they are close to sealing various deals with some interested foreign club sides.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, may ask the head coach to prune down the size of his preliminary squad for the match against Malawi
The technical committee of the country’s football federation wants Keshi to review his squad for the and name a revised provisional team of 30 or 33 players.
“He needs to leave out players he intends to use for the 2014 African Nations Championship (CHAN). The Malawi game is important so he has to trim the squad to at least 30 or 33 players and not 42 like we have,” said a member of the NFF Technical Committee.
However, Keshi told supersport.com that he has not been approached on trimming down the size of the provisional squad he announced on Tuesday.
But the Nigeria manager said he will wait to be communicated with officially.
“No official talk on it. I’ll wait to get official brief on this. For now there’s nothing,” said Keshi.