Westerhof’s Module will Return Competitiveness to NPFL, Says Amokachi
Kunle Adewale
Former Super Eagles forward, Daniel Amokachi has attributed the none-invitation of home-based players to the national team as one of the reasons for the decline in the standard of the Nigeria Premier Football League.
If we believe we have quality in Nigeria, if we believe we are a football nation why are we not having three or four players from the Nigerian league in the national team. Extending invitation to them brings competitiveness to the league as the home-based players know that if they play well, they would be invited to the national team.
Indeed, extending invitation to them put the foreign professionals on the edge because they would realise that there is somebody on standby that is ready to take his place if he didn’t do well.
Stephen Keshi was a witness to Clemence Westerhof’s model of using home-based players in the Super Eagles and he used it effectively.
Keshi focused on the home-grown players and they qualified Nigeria for the World Cup and also won the African Cup of Nations in 2013. But unfortunately, the model was thrown away after his death.
Amokachi also blamed the late kick start of the league to Nigerian teams not doing well on the continent.
The league has to start at the right time. It must start when the rest of the continent are playing their leagues too. Our clubs cannot just be having pre-season when other clubs in the continent are involved in their country’s league. Being match fit is different from pre-season fitness.
Also, very important is the need to work on the quality of our players and coaches.
Those teams that represented us in the continent are traditional teams. They are almost like an institution, but when you look at all the teams the one that comes closest to being well organised is Enyimba but then the club is no longer like before. There is little to write home about Enyimba now and the tools needed for the club to be up there as a professional team is no longer in place.
The good thing about our league is that we still have traditional teams like Enugu Rangers, Kano Pillars and Plateau United. These are historical teams. And i’m happy that the NPFL now boast of a team from Lagos too. A Premier League without a Lagos team takes shine off football in the country.
