Super Eagles need new defenders to become African giants – Fuludu

 

Vincent Enyeama has become something of a cult figure in the Super Eagles since he guided Nigeria to their third Africa Cup of Nations triumph in South Africa in 2013 – and pulled off some big saves to help the team qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Former Nigeria midfielder Edema Fuludu is a big fan of the 32-year-old France-based goalkeeper, who emerged as the best keeper at South Africa 2013.

Fuludu is backing the Lille custodian to remain as Nigeria’s first-choice in goal as he believes the former Enyimba star’s experience will help the Eagles greatly in the Gabon 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

However, the former Turkey-based player is not comfortable with Nigeria’s defence and wants a quick fix to the Eagles’ defensive problems.

Despite the Eagles’ failure to qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea, Enyeama, who is Nigeria’s second player to reach a century after Joseph Yobo, remains the captain of the team.

Although Austin Ejide has been knocking on the door following his impressive performances for Israeli Premier League club Hapoel Be’er Sheva since he joined them from Hapoel Petah Tikva two years ago, Nigeria manager Stephen Keshi will surely snub the 31-year-old for a starting spot in goal.

Nigeria are drawn in Group G   of the qualifiers alongside record seven-time champions Egypt, Chad and Tanzania. The top two teams from the group will claim automatic qualification spots. The Eagles host Chad in Kaduna on June 13 and travel to Dar es Salaam on September 5 to face Tanzania.

And Fuludu warns   the Eagles that Chad and Tanzania   will be no pushovers in the qualifiers, urging the team to be at their best in the fixtures against both countries.

He said, “Yes, Chad and Tanzania can spring a surprise against the Eagles in the qualifiers. We should not underestimate them because they don’t have big players.

“In football anything can happen. There are no longer small teams in the game. This is why we should prepare very well for our matches against them. We should play our best players in the qualifiers

“We should not make the mistake we made against Congo in the Equatorial 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers last year.

“We lost the match (3-2 in Calabar) because we underrated the Congolese.

“We should not underrate Chad because they have nothing to lose if we beat them. They could come to Nigeria to frustrate us.We should take the match seriously.”

The former Bendel Insurance coach maintains the Eagles’ poor defending ruined their chance to qualify for the Equatorial Guinea 2015 tournament eventually won by their bitter rivals Ivory Coast.

“The defence is clearly the Eagles’ weakest link right now,” the Tunisia ’94 Africa Cup of Nations winner told our correspondent on the telephone.

“Our defence   has not improved since 2013 when we won the Africa Cup of Nations. We won the tournament largely due to Enyeama’s saves.

“He was the Man-of-the Match in all our matches in the tournament. When a goalkeeper emerges as the Man-of-the Match in a game, it means the defence is not good.

“Enyeama made big saves during the World Cup qualifiers. He played a significant role in our (Brazil 2014)   World Cup qualification and made some good saves in the tournament.

“Our defence performed badly in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. We conceded some cheap goals.

“We should sort out our defensive problems before the Gabon 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

“If we want to become African champions again, we must have good defenders.

“We need new defenders and Keshi should focus on the domestic league. There are defenders good enough to play for the national team.

“I’m happy the league has improved. It’s becoming competitive and we can’t afford to ignore the good players in the league.

“We can get good strikers and midfielders from the league. We should give every player a chance to play for the national team, whether playing at home or abroad.

“Many of the foreign-based players started from the domestic league. If they were not given the chance to play for the team, they won’t be in the national team today.”

The 50-year-old says both the Nigeria Football Federation and the League Management Committee deserve credit for the recent improvements in the league.

Fuludu said, “I think teams are now winning away matches because of the independent assessors introduced to the league this season.

“The standard of officiating in the league has improved greatly. Security at venues has also improved.

“I believe Nigerian fans will soon return to the stadiums to watch league games.”

The former BCC Lions star called for a “functional” technical department in the NFF to offer support and advice to the senior national team manager as well as coaches of the junior national teams.

Fuludu said, “There should be a functional technical department in the NFF. The technical department is supposed to help soften problems for the coach.

“In fact, coaching the national team is not down to the manager alone. The FA technical department has a big role to play.

“We should have one in the NFF. The technical department can help make our league stronger.

“If our league is strong, it will reflect on the national team. In my days, the league was very strong and there were very good players.

“We shouldn’t ignore the league because there are talented players there. (Former Nigeria manager) Clemens Westerhof didn’t have much problems getting good players for matches because there was a standing home-based team.”

The 1990 African Cup Winners Cup winner, who played for Turkish outfit Altay SK between 1994 and 1997, says the Eagles need more   creative midfielders.

He believes creative midfielders can help solve the team’s striking problems, urging Keshi to scout around for such players in the domestic league.

“Keshi should look for attacking midfielders who have the potential to create and score goals when the strikers are having a bad day,” the former New Nigeria Bank star said.

The Delta State Football Association Vice-Chairman was dropped from the squad for the USA ’94 in controversial circumstances.

Dutchman Westerhof invited Fuludu to the national team   after guiding BCC Lions to their first continental glory in 1990 ahead of the Senegal ’92 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

However, he missed out on a place in the squad for the tournament.