WYC: Blame Coaches For Nigeria’s Elimination, Chukwuma

Felix Chukwuma, the former Nigeria Football Association first vice chairman, has said the ouster of the Flying Eagles in the World Youth Championship in New Zealand was expected because “coaches of the team had compromised on merit  in the selection of players for the squad. “We were represented by amateur players. Our best players were not selected by the coaches and the reason is simple. Quote me any day and anytime, our national team coaches collect money from players for inclusion in our teams.  Who else is in the team? This Flying Eagles team is typical example players for money in my mind,” he alleged. “I know that we went to New Zealand with very bad team composed of pure amateurs. Forget Iheanacho or Awomiyi. I run a club and I have seen better players in the league good enough for Flying Eagles and other categories of the national team. Because coaches go for money dump merit, the country’s interest is relegated to the background. Good players are in this country are having not been taken to represent us. About the World Youth Championship in New Zealand, amateurs who lack skills dominated the Flying Eagles team because coaches settled for mediocre packaged by football agents acting as fronts to field their players and at the end of the day  profit while the country suffers shame in the eye of the world. Until the NFF stops the racketeering going on, we will never get the best but poor result as it happened in New Zealand, he said.

Nigeria won just one gameagainst North Korea and lost to Brazil and Germany in the group stage of the FIFA World Youth Championship to leave the tournament.

Asked for solution, the Gabros FC proprietor said “NFF must make a law that any coach or coaches given national assignment that fail should be put in the cooler (kept away from national teams for a period of ten years. That way people can now sit up. No one would take a bad team to an international assignment, knowing fully repercussions for failure. That he or she will be out of job for ten years.

Meanwhile, Chief Chukwuma has commended the Nigeria Football Federation and the League Management Company for progress made in the operation of the domestic league saying “we have never had it as good as now. There is fewer rancors’ I urge both bodies to sustain the tempo and never let it fall below standard, the referees are handling games well and clubs have cause to belong to the community. It is just an indication we are getting things right,” he stated.