Yakubu Aiyegbeni calls for Super Eagles overhaul

Caretaker November 19, 2022

0 177 2 minutes read

Ex-Super Eagles striker, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, has called for the overhaul of the Super Eagles team on the ground of “Old” age.

Yakubu made this call while reacting to questions following the Super Eagles International friendly loss against Portugal in Lisbon.

The Jose Paseiro tutored Super Eagles team were hammered 0-4 by World Cup-bound Portugal at the Estadio Jose Alvalade on Thursday November 17.

“We don’t have leaders in that team,” Yakubu told Eagles Tracker.

“We need to overhaul the players, they are old. If we qualify for the next World Cup in 2026, they’d have become in their early 30s or late 20s,” the former Everton striker added.

Nigeria was without the services of red-hot Napoli striker Victor Osimhen in the friendly game but were presented with an opportunity to score from the spot but Emmanuel Dennis missed the spot kick after disobeying orders by Matchday Skipper Williams Troost-Ekong for Paul Onuachu to take the kick.

Aiyegbeni’s lack of leadership comment aligns with Mikel Obi’s opinion that same reason contributed to Nigeria’s 2022 FIFA World Cup playoff failure.

Former Super Eagles skipper Mikel Obi had in the wake of Nigeria’s World Cup Playoffs Vs Ghana’s Black Stars identified Leadership as reason for Super Eagles 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification failure.

Portuguese Manager Jose Paseiro has since replaced Coach Austin Eguaveon in charge of the Eagles but the changes have not been significant and Yakubu Aiyegbeni believes it’s time for the next generation to emerge.

The way forward according to Aiyegbeni is internal and a job for the the National team scouts, ” The Super Eagles scouts need to look inside and harness the grassroots talents. ” Aiyegbeni advised.

With the FIFA World Cup beginning on Sunday November 20 in Qatar, the Super Eagles players will proceed on break and may not regroup again until 2023.

Head Coach Jose Paseiro will certainly have time to look at his squad and make required changes as the West African giants rebuild after a dissapointing 2022.

For Aiyegbeni, it’s 4-years since he hanged boots after a career that started at defunct Julius Berger and ended in November 2021 when he announced his retirement from active football.