Ekpo urges NFF to adopt Brazil’s global tour model

Faults Rohr’s decision to bench new players
Former Super Eagles’ Midfielder, Friday Ekpo has praised the senior national team for putting up a good show against Brazil in an International friendly game at the weekend, saying the team’s performance in their two recent games indicate that Coach Gernot Rohr was on the verge of creating a great squad for Nigeria.

To sustain their upward movement, Ekpo advised Rohr and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to adopt the Brazil Global Tour model, saying the team need more top friendly games to stabilize.

“If you observed, the Brazilian team are on a global tour, playing in different continents because they want to test their strength and see how they can adapt to different playing styles.

“They have realised that most countries now know how to counter their style over the years and so, they want a solution to that.

“The Super Eagles should also be exposed to this global tour to enable the players and coaches see their strength against other countries of the world before any major championship like the World Cup and AFCON,” he said.

He, however, urged Coach Rohr to give every new player in the Eagles’ squad the opportunity to play in test games, saying the essence of bringing in new legs is to see what they can offer the team.

He believed the international friendly against Brazil would have given the coach the opportunity to assess some of the invited players in a competitive game.

“I don’t understand why Rohr will keep new players on the bench in a friendly game. He should have used five of the known players and five of the new ones in such a high profile game against Brazil. Using them would have given him an insight on where to make changes and the department that needs correction in the team,” he added.