A Nigerian born American football based coach; Anthony Ushurhe has expressed rude shock over the Flying Eagles poor performance at the ongoing U-20 WAFU football tournament taking place in Benin Republic.
Nigeria, flying Eagles were eliminated following their 0-1 defeat against Ghana and played 1-1 with Young Elephant of Ivory Coast in the group opener.
With this performance, Nigeria has one point in the group while the other two countries have three and four points respectively to book a place in the semi final stage.
Following the abysmal performance of Flying Eagles, Nigeria would not take part in Africa Youth Championship scheduled for Mauritania next year where four countries would be picked and represent Africa in FIFA U- 20 World Cup scheduled for next year.
The former Messiah coach in a chat with our correspondent early today said he was highly disappointed with the performance of Nigeria in WAFU noting that time has come for Nigeria Football Federation to send some national coaches to refresher courses to update their knowledge on the latest football coaching.
“I read reports of Flying Eagles on regular basis concerning their two matches, and I think it was not a good enough. In the past, Nigeria dominated age grade competitions in Africa but today, we are not there at all.
“I think the NFF should always ensure that all the national coaches should go for refresher courses periodically and coaches themselves should pick the right players for the national team
If they want to get a good result.
“A situation whereby quota system, tribal sentiment and favouritism become the order of the day in the national teams, we cannot get a good result and we would continue to lament about Nigerian football for days to come,” he said.
Ushurhe who is currently handling U-16 Arsenal football team that are playing in the Junior Premier League in USA said Nigeria can regain its lost glory if all hands are on deck. He said the NFF should see the elimination of Flying Eagles as a wake up call and begin to prepare for next edition.
