Exclusion of Home-based Players in Super Eagles Detrimental to NPFL, Says Aigbogun

Berates low goal scores in Super-Six

Kunle Adewale
 

The recently concluded Nigeria Premier Football League, NPFL, Abridged League and the ongoing Super Six has been hailed for the improvement and innovations introduced by the Interim Management Committee, IMC, however, the Deputy Director, Technical and Scouting of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Paul Aigbogun, has stated that the lack of opportunities for home-based players in the Super Eagles team is a bane to the growth of the country’s league.

In a chat with THISDAY, the former Warri Wolves sweat merchant said until the national team coaches start selecting players from the local league, home- based players would not feel a sense of belonging and would ultimately affect the competitiveness in the league and their output ultimately.

The Nigerian team that last won the African Cup of Nations in 2013 had about five or six home-based players-three of them from Warri Wolves and they all flourished and it was one of them, Sunday Mbah, that scored the goal that won the trophy for the country.

“If you look at when the league was successful, Austin Eguavoen and the rest emerged from there. I am a big advocate of having our local players involved in our national teams, Mbah, who in my opinion won the 2013 AFCON for Nigeria was with me at Warri Wolves. Anytime the senior national team recorded success, there is always the input of home-based players. The national team coaches need to be actively involved in going round the country and not just going to league venues just for the sake of looking at it but actually taking time in inviting the players, train with them for two to three months periodically.

“They can have three or four camps in a year so as to bond very well.  Not a matter of when we have a match next week and you invite a player who feels intimidated and uncomfortable to perform well,” he highlighted.

On his assessment of the ongoing Super Six, Aigbogun said the first day was alright but did not really meet the standard expected of what the Nigerian league should really be.

“The first day was okay but not fantastic in my opinion, but on Monday the game had improved a lot but the same issue of low scoring in league continues to be witnessed.  The teams are playing well but the inability to score goals is really disturbing,” he noted.

The former Enyimba of Aba coach however ruled out proper coaching as to the reason the playoffs is witnessing low scoring, but rather adduced it to improper youth developmental programme.

“It’s a problem of youth development and not coaching at the highest level. Scoring a goal is instinctive but it’s also about learning the technique and unfortunately, we don’t have structure at the young level. That is why our coaches are still teaching 22-year-old players what they supposed to have learnt in their teens, “ he said.

To address some of these challenges, Aigbogun suggested improvement in coach education.

“Coach education has to improve and above all we need to have a structure at the youth level, which is even more important than at the top. The top normally takes care of itself when you get it right at the bottom. If you look at Senegal for example, they have a very good youth structure. They have the National Youth League from U13 to U19, vis-a- vis Cameroon and Ghana. With proper coaching education and structure, goal scoring problem would become a thing of the past in our league,” he said.

To improve the standard of the league the former Nigeria U20 Coach proposed an improvement in the sports facilities and the state of the pitches .

“The pitches in some league venues are very poor. Some that are artificial have in in place for 20 years or more. Our teams don’t have academies which is not ideal. How can you have professional teams without academy? That is why every new season you see the clubs bringing in 14 to 15 new players because nobody graduating from the academy,” he noted.

He however admitted that there has been an improvement in the organisation and officiating in the league this ending season.

The organisation and officiating are getting better. Our league is therefore getting better. But infrastructure and coach education are key,” he expressed.

As a proponent of school’s sports, the Nevada Wonders former manager berated the idea of setting up schools without sports facilities.

“If you look back to the 1994 Super Eagles team, we didn’t have so much structure either but we had schools’ sports with proper physical education teachers. How many schools now have PE teachers? Now it is all about private schools without a football field. In those days you see a crowd of over 500 watching inter-schools matches, but now schools’ sports have been neglected badly,” he concluded.