Ndubuoke Rips Eagle's Midfield

[Folami David]

Heartland chairman, Fan Ndubuoke has said Super Eagles' final World Cup qualifying match against the Walya Antelopes of Ethiopia exposed the side as clearly. acking creative midfielders.
.
The Eagles defeated their East African opponents 2-0 to qualify for the global football showpiece in Brazil on 4-1 aggregate.
.
Ndubuoke who congratulated the side for clinching the World Cup ticket said if the side are not to merely add up to the numbers in Brazil immediate surgical operation aimed at strengthening the side must be done forthwith.
.
"I've congratulated the Eagles for qualifying the country for the World Cup but for us to have a meaningful outing in Brazil the team must be tinkered with from what it's at present.
.
"The crop of Eagles we saw against Ethiopia on Saturday in Calabar lacked pace, cohesion, ball sense, among others.
.
"Keshi must immediately start shopping for more players both on the home front and outside, I don't think it makes sense to insist that Golden Eaglets must grow through the ranks before being integrated into the Super Eagles when some of them can comfortably fit into the leaking ends of the side.
.
"We don't have a point man in the Eagles right now except Emmanuel Emenike and no creative playmaker in the shape of Austin Okocha and kanu Nwankwo.
.
"But we have have a naturally endowed creative playmaker in Golden Eaglets' whiz kid, Kelechi Iheanacho. Nobody plays Iheanacho's role in the present Super Eagles who can masterfully create chances for attackers to score.
.
"I'm not insisting it must be Kelechi Iheanacho rather that there are hundreds of Iheanachos available that the Eagles can profit from and become a world beater. We have the Eaglets' captain, Musa Mohammed and Isaac Success around us to leverage on further insistence they must graduate from the Under-20 to Under-23 then to Super Eagles appears to me as self deceptive.
.
"It just means we're not truthful to ourselves. I watched the ties between Senegal and Cote d' Ivoire as well as the one that involved Cameroun and Tunisia, I simply don't know the side we'll defeat in Brazil with the present crop of Super Eagles," Ndubuoke.
.
Though the Eagles have received Nigerians applause for qualifying the country for the global football showpiece they are equally unanimous that the side need bit to compete favourably at their fifth appearance at the mundial.

[Shola Sholaz]

It wlll definately improve in subsequent games. They difeinately did not give their all against Ethiopia in the second leg.