Paris friendlies: ‘No pressure on home-based Eagles’

Nigeria head coach Salisu Yusuf says there will be no pressure on the four Nigeria Professional Football League players invited to the Super Eagles for friendlies in France next month, just as he expressed confidence that they would not disappoint.

FC IfeanyiUbah goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa, MFM FC forwards Stephen Odey and Sikiru Olatunbosun as well as Akwa United midfielder Ibrahim Alhassan are the four NPFL players invited for the 25-man squad that will face Corsica on May 26 and Togo on June 1.

Yusuf, who is second to Technical Adviser Gernot Rohr, told KweseESPN that the selected players were the best from the NPFL.

“This camp is an avenue for them to show what they can do, to prove that they have what it takes to compete with the others from Europe,” Yusuf said. “We have watched them play so many games for their clubs and they have performed quite well.

“If they don’t do well at this camp, it doesn’t really mean that they’re not good players. And it also doesn’t stop us from giving opportunities to other home-based players.”

Yusuf said the most overriding objective is to build the confidence of domestic league players

“We want to give them a feeling that will make them have more belief and more confidence in their game. When they rub shoulders with the foreign-based players, that will give them more confidence in their abilities.”

“And if they excel, especially at CHAN, maybe they can even be called up to the World Cup qualifying squad,” he said.