Five Flying Eagles players who were, under normal circumstances, shortlisted by head coach John Obuh, were dropped by officials of the Nigeria Football Federation ahead of the team’s training tour of Germany.
Those players, namely: Lukman Dimiyo, Moses Epele, Bobby Ikpeazu, Ozioma Maduako and Ezeugo Samson, were said to have been on the list coach Obuh submitted for the training tour. But top officials of the Football Federation removed their names without the consent of the coach.
At the turn of the event, coach Obuh is highly disappointed at the unprofessional conduct of these unnamed officials as these players are key to the coach’s game plan ahead of next month’s World Cup.
Following the revelation of these compromising act by Vanguard Newspapers and the condemnation by top football stakeholders, the Sport Committee in the House of Representatives, has intervened and insisted that the five players be allowed to join the team in Germany. The House Committee on Sports, meanwhile, are angered by such action of the federation and have directed that visas be secured for the players to join the team.
As for coach Obuh, Nigerians, now should know who to heap their blames on in case of failure.
As you would rightly recall, the Flying Eagles have been training in Elfershausen, Germany, for more than two weeks now and the final team list will be submitted to FIFA on June 7. One could help but wonder how these players would measure up to the fitness level others had attained if they travel next week, few days to the FIFA deadline for the submission of team lists.
On that note one of the players, Moses Epele, from Sharks FC, has opted out, citing such foul play by the federation as undermining to the success of the team.
“The federation has asked for the passports of the players to secure their visas after the House of Representatives Committee on Sports intervened early this week,” a football source said.
Should Epele travel to Germany it may turn out another ploy towards ridicule as the training tour rounds off in few week’s time. Another source confirmed that Epele said he was no longer interested in going to Germany as he had missed the crucial stage of the preparation.
However, the motive behind such unprofessional action by the NFF is yet to be revealed.