Sports Minister and Chairman, National Sports Commission, Tammy Danagogo has urged the Nigeria Football Federation and coaches of the Super Eagles to make the senior national team competitive and ensure that only the best players represent the country at all times.
The minister made this plea on the heels of the recent two-legged friendly matches put together for the home-based team against Cote d’ Ivoire and Yemen where the team lost 0-1 to star-studded Cote d’Ivoire in Abu Dhabi and beat Yemen 2-0 in Dubai.
A statement from the minister’s SA on Media, Patrick Omorodion said Danagogo argued that with regular friendly matches for the Team B Eagles, the coaches would be able to beef up the first team for crucial matches with new players discovered as the Eagles prepare for the 2017 Africa Nations Cup qualifiers scheduled to begin after the on-going 2015 edition.
“If the Team B gets regular friendly matches, the coaches will have a pool of players to select from to beef up the main team. They have to make the team competitive so that only the best will represent the country at all times,” he said, as he commended the NFF for arranging the recent friendly matches.
He urged Nigerians to continue to support the Super Eagles despite their failure to qualify for the on-going Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea, adding that he was sure the NFF and the players have learnt from the mistakes of the past to make progress in the coming months.