Guardian

NEWLY appointed Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Shaibu Amodu says the FIFA Confederations Cup should not be used as a yardstick to rate or determine the standard of the Super Eagles.

The NFF technical director, who spoke at the NFF Secretariat in Abuja Monday, told the Super Eagles to concentrate on the two World Cup qualifiers in the busy June schedule as it would be better for Nigeria to qualify for the Mundial than doing well at the Confederations Cup at the expense of the country’s Brazil 2014 ambitions.

He urged the Super Eagles to use both the Confederations Cup and the international friendly against Mexico as preparation for the task of securing the World Cup ticket.

Amodu, who passed a vote of confidence on the performance of Nigerian players in Europe in the 2012/2013 league seasons, especially Chelsea duo of John Mikel Obi and Victor Moses, said it has never been so good for them in the recent past.

“It will certainly give them psychological boost. Honestly, never in the history of our football have we had it so good in the recent past with regards to our players doing well at various levels than this year. So, it is really a plus for Nigerian football. I don’t have fears but I am full of expectations.

“This is because having come back from the Nations Cup, this is another platform and level entirely. I think that the technical crew must have sat back to take inventories properly, realise what happened during the Nations Cup, inspective of whether Nigeria won or not and situate it properly against the future challenges.

“It begins with the Confederations Cup, but it should not be a platform or yardstick to determine what the national team should be. It is not even a competition to prepare the team for better assessment. World Cup qualifying games are most crucial and I think that they should concentrate more in World Cup qualifiers instead of placing too much emphasis on the Confederations Cup,” he noted.

Amodu added that the thing about the national team is “there is a mixed grill of fresh legs both from home-based and foreign professionals with the ones that prosecuted the Nations Cup. For me, it is like forming a new team again.

“The Nations Cup is over and they are getting together now to see those ones from the Nations Cup squad that will still feature for the future and the new ones that can break into the main team. I think the coach has got to play with this different approach like giving some of them the opportunity to play and see if they can break into the team.

“People would expect them to win but prestige and values at stake no doubt but I think we should de-emphasis win at all cost syndromes in the Confederation Cup. I just think they will pick these matches as they come.”