Hold me responsible if Super Eagles fail, Oliseh tells Nigerians

Coach Sunday Oliseh has assured Nigerians that the Super Eagles is primed for the big time again, saying that he would take the responsibility if the team failed to live up to his promise.

Oliseh has been criticised by some football fans due to the choice of players he picked for the September 5, 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against the Taifa stars of Tanzania in Dar es Salaam.

Top of the allegations against Oliseh is that he invited four players being managed by his older brother, Churchill, while omitting Watford striker, Odion Ighalo, from the team.

But Oliseh insists he selected the team based on a lot of factors, including current form and expected individual contribution to the qualification of the country for the Nations Cup. “The list is there but I think it is the coaching crew that will decide will play.

We cannot make the list and send it out to the whole of Nigeria and say look, send in your own vote… it is not a reality show, it is a football game. “As far as we are concerned, we have worked very hard to put this list together and let me say that everybody is a Nigerian… nobody will get a preferential treatment. If you are invited and you do well in training, you will play,” he said.

Justifying the invitation of Carl Ikeme of Wolverhampton Wonderers for the game against Tanzania, goalkeepers’ trainer, Aloy Agu, said everybody invited, including team captain, Vincent Enyeama, have the experience to do well in the match. Agu said, “If you look at the list, Daniel Akpeyi is there.

We cannot bring everybody in at the same time and at this moment in time, we also need experience because when you want to build a solid future you also need experience for the new ones to learn from. “Carl is doing well and we need people that are doing well so that we can get the desired result.

In as much as we want young goalkeepers to come in, we also need to tap from the wealth of experience of the older keepers.”