By Harry Awurumibe, ABUJA
Former Nigerian international footballer, Peter Ijeh has questioned the benchmark for inviting players to represent the country in the various national teams including the Super Falcons.
Ijeh spoke on Brila 88.9FM Radio during the week against the backdrop of the exclusion of his two daughters, Josephine and Evelyn Ijeh, from the recent list of 23 players invited by Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for the African Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) double-header between Nigeria and Ghana
He said he could not explain why the duo who play for BK Hacken in Sweden, were not invited.
According to him, he looked forward to subsequent invitation of Josephine and Evelyn who were invited by Nigeria’s Super Falcons Head Coach Randy Waldrum last June for a two-week training camp in Vienna, Austria but they have not been invited again.
Said he: “I honestly don’t know the yardstick the Nigeria football authorities use to invite players to camp especially the Super Falcon. Elsewhere, I know that these are done on merits but I begin to wonder when I see that my two daughters who have agreed to play for Nigeria are not invited again after the Austrian camp in August.
“I expected that they will be invited for the Aisha Buhari Invitational Tournament in Lagos but they were not called even when their club is higher up in the Swedish league table than the players who were invited. Again, they have been excluded in the latest list released.
It’s a bit strange to them”, Ijeh stated.
The former Super Eagles and Julius Berger FC of Lagos striker however said the players who are just 18 and 20 years of age are not bothering themselves as they have many years ahead of them even as Nigerian-born Swedish youth international, (Evelyn) is set to play for Sweden again just months after pledging allegiance to Nigeria.
After failing to make the 23-woman squad list of the Super Falcons for the coming international break, Evelyn who had previously represented Sweden at the U17 and U19 levels has been invited once again to the Sweden U23 for the coming matches against Belgium and Norway in October 21 and 23 respectively.
Ijeh who is also a Technical and Tactical Soccer Coach also studied at Gothenburg University and the Swedish Football Federation (SvFF) and acquired a UEFA Advanced Licensed Certificate.
