Super Eagles’ Coach, Gernot Rohr (right) PHOTO: AFP.
Former Green Eagles winger, Adegoke Adelabu has said that it was out of place for Coach Gernot Rohr to continue searching for players to play for Nigeria in next year’s FIFA World Cup in Russia.
He said, “No one looks for players to play in the World Cup, rather players are prepared for the World Cup.”
According to the former IICC Shooting Stars of Ibadan winger, the Super Eagles’ coach needs to offer what he has before he can discover what is available.
“To run all over the world to look for players to come and play in the national team is derogatory to the psyche of the football loving Nigerians. It is even repugnant to the way other players who laboured to qualify see themselves. Players who refuse to play for Nigeria would be seen as unpatriotic, but Nigeria contributed nothing to the development of their footballing careers,” he said.
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Adelabu added: “When most of these players offer to play for us, we never follow them up. We use and dump them! In scientific parlance, there is what we call ‘stereotype threat.’ The perception of the coach that he cannot get the result he wanted with the present squad has already set the platform for our failure.
“The question is whether the coach has what it takes to get the result he wanted. It is not possible for you to look for what you do not have in another person. If you see it, how will you identify it or how do you plan to bring it out in the players you are looking for?”
Adelabu believes it would be better for Rohr to reassess his squad to ascertain its strengths and weaknesses rather than the endless search for fresh talents.
“What are the sparks of talents, skills and hidden abilities that the coach can see in the present squad? Let him fan them to flame by his professional and technical ability and stop wasting his precious time roaming all over the place searching for what he has not lost.
I know for sure that these present squad may not look fantastic, but they will take their chances against any team who is not extra careful,” he stated.
Source: G Sport
