Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh, is not getting any sympathy from former international teammate, Victor Ikpeba, over Nigeria’s shock exit at the African Nations Championships.
One of the tournament favourites, Nigeria crashed out of the competition popularly referred to as CHAN following a 1-0 loss to Guinea at Stade Ribavu, Ribavu, Rwanda on Tuesday.
Ikpeba, who like Oliseh, traded his boots for football punditry, does not agree that the fault lies with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) which has long established a reputation of ineptitude.
Speaking on Brila FM’s Sports Machine programme, Thursday, Ikpeba said rather than trading blames, Oliseh should have gone the extra mile to see that his team succeeded in Rwanda instead of blaming the NFF for his woes.
“It’s unfortunate to hear the comments from Oliseh and some of the players, on issues of motivation. I think the NFF has done a good job, they took the team to South Africa for preparation before the tournament,” Ikpeba stated.
The former African Footballer of the year argued that the financial crises plaguing the NFF was well known to everybody and regardless of that challenge, the Golden Eaglets and the U-23 team both went out of their way to win laurels in the competition they were entered for.
”We all know he Federation has financial issues, so, instead of complaining about motivation, they should take an example from the U-17 and U-23. They had financial problems yet won the tournaments; we shouldn’t forget that Siasia’s mother was kidnapped,” Ikpeba said.
Going forward, Ikpeba advised Oliseh to promptly shift focus on planning ahead for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers against Egypt rather than playing the blame game over the debacle in Rwanda.
”Our coaches should think about what they can do for their country first. It is not as if Oliseh was condemned to win the CHAN, so even if the team have not advance to the next stage, he should be thinking about the Egypt AFCON ties which is very important.
”When we won the Olympics in 1996 we had financial problems, sometimes we should get behind this problems and be focused and do the job for Nigeria,” Ikpeba concluded.
