By Gracious Akujobi The president of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick has called for the introduction of younger players into the national team for rapid development of the game.
Speaking in Abuja on arrival from the AFCON where he commissioned about six games, Pinnick stated that he observed that young players constituted most of the teams at the Afcon in Equatorial Guinea.
He said that the Ivory Coast team that won the cup was made up of some experienced and young players and they showed lot of hunger and patriotism.
“In Equatorial Guinea I saw young and talented players; I saw zeal, national morale and selflessness as well as the hunger to excel. They were hungry, you could see that there was no Eto, no Drogba, no Muntari and no Michael Essien, may be apart from Yaya Toure and Asamoah Gyng there was no such other big name.
“In fact when you see these players on television you think they are very old but seeing them in person revealed that they are very young.
“As a match commissioner I went into their dressing rooms with their captain and referees and you see these players are young, in fact I asked one about his age and he told me he is 18 years and truly he looks it.
“So, I am telling you these are players that are hungry, people between the ages of 18 to 22 and that is what we possibly lack in the Super Eagles” he stated.
