Stephen Keshi
Edema
Fuludu has blasted the performance of the Super Eagles in the 2015
Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and placed the blame for Nigeria’s
failure to reach the championship in Equatorial Guinea at the feet of
Stephen Keshi.
The African champions have been denied a
chance to defend their title at the continental showpiece in the small
West African country after being held to a 2-2 draw by South Africa in
their Equatorial Guinea 2015 Group A last qualifying match in Uyo on
Wednesday.
Congo defeated Sudan 1-0 in the other
group fixture in Khartoum to seal their place in the tournament along
with South Africa, who had already cemented their spot in the
competition after beating Sudan 2-1 in Durban last Saturday.
The Eagles, who won the tournament in
South Africa last year, failed to qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of
Nations hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
Fuludu, who expressed his shock at the
Eagles’ performance in a match (against Bafana Bafana in Uyo) in which a
narrow win would have landed them in Equatorial Guinea, questioned
Keshi’s decision to start defender Kenneth Omeruo in the encounter. The
Tunisia ’94 Africa Cup of Nations winner also queried his former
Eagles’ teammate for allowing Emmanuel Emenike play the full 90
minutes in the clash.
The former Nigeria midfielder slammed
the Eagles for their “average’ performance, saying the majority of the
players did not take the Africa Cup of Nations qualification seriously.
The ex-Bendel Insurance coach also
questioned Mikel Obi, Ogenyi Onazi, Ahmed Musa and Emenike’s commitment
to the national team’s cause, maintaining they did not play their hearts
out in the tie.
Although he praised Ikechukwu Uche’s
performance in the encounter, Fuludu insisted the Villarreal forward “is
not the expected messiah”.
“Their best was not good enough for the
team (on Wednesday),” the former BCC Lions star, who played for Turkish
outfit Altay İzmir for three years, told our correspondent on the
telephone during the week.
“Musa has always worked very hard but why was Emenike left to even come to continue the second half?
“Uche did his best against Congo in Point
Noire (last Saturday) . He also tried in the game against South Africa,
but he cannot be said to be the expected messiah.
“Omeruo was match-rusty. It showed in his performance. He shouldn’t have started the game.”
He added, “The South Africans were more
enthusiastic about the game with the objective of telling us they are
tired of playing second fiddle to us considering they the way they
approached the game, despite they had already qualified for the
tournament before the match.
“Well, the coach (Keshi) did his best
considering the circumstances, but we did not see a clear game plan. Why
did they need to go down 2-0 adding some urgency to their game? Why
didn’t we take advantage of the opportunity created when South Africa
were one man down 20 minutes to full time?
“But we have an average team. The players fought so well in Pointe Noire but faded in same spirit in Uyo.”
Fuludu said the Eagles lacked a”
creative midfielder” and urged the national selectors to “look into the
domestic League properly”.
He added, “We must organise the domestic.
It must be credible and viable. If the league is properly oraganised,
we don’t have to rely on foreign-based players to win matches.
“Some of the foreign-based players are
not good enough for the national team. With a credible league in the
country, we will only invite a few foreign-based players to the national
team.”
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