8th May, 2014
Head coach of the Nigeria national team, Stephen Keshi has moved to explain the shock exclusion of striker, Brown Ideye from the provisional 30-man list for the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals in Brazil.
Ideye was a consistent figure in Nigeria’s 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign. He also played an important role as Nigeria surprisingly won the 2013 Africa Nations Cup in South Africa.
Keshi said Ideye is a good player, but added that not all good players go to the World Cup. “Brown Ideye is a good player. He’s a hard worker but all the same, you need to score goals,” said Keshi.
Meanwhile, Mohammed Lawal, the South Africa based representative of James Okwuosa, has diplomatically refused to castigate Keshi over the exclusion of his client from the provisional World Cup.
Instead, he believes James Okwuosa will get his chance in future if he keeps churning out brilliant performances for his club.
And Mohammed Lawal further stressed that the national team snub will not cost him a move to Europe this summer.
“Nigeria have a lot of talents and the coach has made his choice. Okwuosa is still very young and has a very bright future with the Eagles.
“This omission will motivate him more to push himself to work harder so as to actualize his dream of playing for a European team.”
Mohammed Lawal, who brokered the deal that took Ejike Uzoenyi to Sundowns, said to allnigeriasoccer.com.
The 23 – year – old Okwuosa made his international debut for Nigeria last year against South Africa.