Samson Unanuel: A blend of Foreign-based and NPFL stars would have qualified Nigeria for the World Cup
Former Sunshine Stars Head Coach Samson Unanuel has sensationally claimed that a blend of foreign-based and home based players would have qualified Nigeria for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Unanuel dropped this claim in a chat with GOAL, inspired by the First leg wins for Nigerian clubs in the second preliminary round of the CAF Champions League and Confederation cup.
The Nigerian Professional Football League gaffer who is currently unattached believes Nigeria would have defeated Ghana in the world Cup playoffs if Coach Austin Eguaveon had given NPFL stars a chance.
WHAT DID SAMSON UNANUEL SAY
” Trust me, the success of Jose Peseiro is based on the amount of local based professionals who are in his team.
” If there was a blend of foreign-based talents and NPFL stars, Nigeria would not have missed out on the 2022 World Cup.”
ON THE WINS FOR PLATEAU UNITED, RIVERS UNITED AND KWARA UNITED VS NORTH AFRICAN TEAMS
He said ” It was a great weekend for Nigerian football because many must have written our teams off owing to the calibre of opposition they were going to face.
“However, the three teams got the job done despite conceding first. What we need to take home from the performance of Rivers United, Plateau United and Kwara United is that the Nigeria Professional Football League is blessed with great players who can make the Super Eagles squad.
ADVICE FOR NIGERIAN CLUBS ON THE CONTINENT
Plateau United FC and Rivers United FC will head into the second leg with a 2-1 advantage from the first leg while Kwara United FC were 3-1 winners of RSB Berkane.
Ahead of the second leg, the former Enyimba International FC manager warned all three Nigerian Clubs against wastefulness in front of goal if they must progress to the next round.
Unanuel said “A win is a win regardless of the margin. What guarantees you that our teams won’t also get a great result away from home? ”
” My advice is that they should not be wasteful in front of goal and stay focused for the entire duration. With that, they will be a sure candidate for the next round.” Unanuel concluded.
