Head Coach, Austin Eguavoen has in an emerging report disassociated himself from the call up of Ogenyi Onazi to the Super Eagle’s side that will be facing Ghana in the 2022 World Cup playoffs, stressing he was not the one who made the decision to invite the player.
According to Eguavoen, Onazi was imposed on him despite the technical team’s unwillingness to name the Al-Adalah midfielder. He further maintained he never monitored the player prior to the call-up.
“Onazi is a good player. Whether he is still good and can play at this level, we do not know. That is why I said, to pacify everyone, and for peace to reign, put him on the standby list. Although he is on the standby list, I have the final say on who will play,” said Eguavoen.
His revelations suggests that people within the federation have been interfering with his call-up decision to the national team which could attract severe consequences for the team.
Interestingly, Eguavoen’s refuting claims is coming at the helm of Sampson Siasia’s criticism on his call-ups for the World Cup play-offs which could have instigated the gaffer’s divulging utterances.
Recall that the former Super Eagles coach had recently faulted the Super Eagles list for the World Cup playoffs against Ghana this month, claiming that Eguavoen should not have called up new players for the game.
“You need to play people that understand themselves. If you bring new ones, it becomes difficult for them to understand themselves on the pitch.
“For me, it’s not the right decision to bring new players. You are better off with the ones that have been playing together and understand themselves because eventually, you realise you have three days to practice before you go to Ghana. So, for me, this is not the right list,” Siasia stressed.
Pending the opening leg of the World Cup play-off which will be hosted by Ghana in Cape Coast on Friday, March 25, it is left to be seen if Onazi Ogenyi will feature in the seeming ruckus or withdrawn in affirmation to this report.
******
Copyright 2021 @ The Athletic NG. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to https://www.theathletic.com.ng/ as the source.
