INTERIM Super Eagles B coach, Daniel Ogunmodede, said he was open to having more Nigeria Premier Football League stars compete for spots in the home-based squad for next year’s African Nations Championship, The PUNCH reports.
The tournament will be hosted by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda from February 1 to 28, 2025.
Ogunmodede and his Rangers International coach counterpart Fidelis Ilechukwu secured Nigeria’s qualification to the tournament for the first time in six years after beating Ghana 3-1 on aggregate in their final qualifying game.
Nigeria and Ghana played a goalless draw in Accra during the first and finished the job in Uyo on Saturday.
After two phases of player selection in Abuja, the task of Ogunmodede and his crew began with 29 players over three weeks ago in Ikenne, and the Remo Stars coach has said the door is still open for more players ahead of the tournament.
“The rule of CHAN is 18 players in a match and that is why we were in Ghana with 18 players. Nevertheless, to have competition, for everyone to compete genuinely, we tried to bring in more numbers so we don’t have complacency,” Ogunmodede said after Saturday’s match.
“If we are preparing for the CHAN proper, we are still going to have more. We will bring more players and it will be based on their club performances. If you perform well in your club, you will be here. For instance, Megwo scored in his last game after he was dropped, and we brought him back. We need to compensate for hard work.”
With just over a month to the tournament, the coach is also hopeful the team’s camp will soon be opened, just as the Nigeria Football Federation has acknowledged the need to start early preparations.
“The team has just one month to go before the CHAN tournament. That means they must go into camp immediately, and we will ensure that,” NFF president Gusau said in a statement.
“Our objective now is to ensure that our teams can strongly contend for honours anywhere, and that can only be done by preparing the teams well ahead of qualifiers and competitions. I insisted that the Super Eagles B start their camping early enough, and the result is what we can see in their display against Ghana.”
Nigeria has never won the tournament, having finished third at the 2014 edition in South Africa before losing the final against hosts Morocco four years later.
