Omokaro slams NFF over dependence on overseas-born players

Amaju Pinnick

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Former Nigerian international, Bright Omokaro, has placed the blame for Super Eagles’ inability to qualify for the Qatar 2022 World Cup on the dependence on overseas-born players, saying most of the players don’t have the quality to play for the country.

He lamented that home-based players are not given the opportunity to challenge overseas-born players for national team shirts, saying such preferential treatment given to Europe-based stars accounts for the poor quality of the national team squad.

Omokaro, who supports the recent assertion by ex-Cameroun international, Samuel Eto, now the president of his country’s FA, that he would not celebrate any player born abroad in the national team, added that the Indomitable Lions idol knows what it means to raise formidable football teams.

Eto’o recently said he prefers to discover and groom players in his country to prove to the world that Cameroun still has stars in the domestic scene.

Omokaro castigated Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President, Amaju Pinnick, for not emulating Eto’os vision and developing the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL).

He said the current trend where players of Nigerian descent born overseas are begged to play for the country after being rejected by the countries of their birth, will continue killing the nation’s football if the right process is not put in place to select players for the national team.

“The Eagles’ failure to book the World Cup ticket is because there is no healthy competition in the team. The current Eagles are mostly made up of foreign-born players invited by coaches to get an easy ride to success.

“In the