Christian Chukwu Criticizes Jose Pasiero And Super Eagles Ahead Of AFCON

Former Super Eagles of Nigeria coach, Christian Chukwu has stressed that the country currently has no team about a month to the 2023 African Cup of Nations (AFCON).

Christian Chukwu who was the Super Eagles coach between 2003 and 2006 stressed that local players were not given a chance in the national team as the country prepared for the forthcoming AFCON.

Coach Jose Peseiro is currently in charge of the Super Eagles and helped the country to qualify for the AFCON with ease. However, the team’s last two games have exposed how weak the team is heading to the AFCON which will commence on January 13 in Ivory Coast.

In November, the Nigeria Football Federation Technical Committee criticized coach Peseiro over poor handling of the team. The Portuguese tactician kicked back by urging the committee to pay him and his colleagues their overdue allowances rather than teaching him how to do his job.

On Sunday, December 10, Christian Chukwu joined the critics of the national team to lament the state of the team ahead of a major tournament.

In an interview with Channels TV, Christian Chukwu argued that coach Peseiro ought to be stationed domestically and be made to train his team within the country instead of abroad. The veteran tactician stressed that this would help the Portuguese tactician to identify local players to inculcate into the team.

Chukwu said: “Our coach should come and stay with us in Nigeria. We have a lot of talents in Nigeria, in our local league and when you don’t camp and train them and forget about this we have a match, we come on Thursday, they train on Friday, they play on Saturday and they disperse again. We don’t have a team.

“Let’s come back home, all those playing overseas are good players. They have the opportunities, we have those players back home who are equally good but they don’t have that opportunity to go abroad and play and if you come here and discover them, let you be their manager and then expose them to the Europe people. We have very good players, better than the foreign-based players but they don’t have the opportunity.”