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Soccer News of Wednesday, 30 June 2021

Source: www.mynigeria.com

Dare drums fresh support for home-based Eagles as team departs for Mexico friendly

Sunday Dare playing with some Super Eagle stars Sunday Dare playing with some Super Eagle stars

Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare has called for the inclusion of more home-based players into the mainstream Super Eagles as the team departs Abuja today for California where they will face their Mexican opponent in an international friendly on July 3.

Speaking to the team on Tuesday, June 29 after visiting at their training in Abuja, the Minister said he was pleased with the decision to use the homegrown talents to play Mexico.

“I’m happy that the conversation and the meetings we’ve had in the past several months with the NFF about changing the phase of our football development is beginning to bear fruits.

“I’m an advocate of a blend of home-based and foreign-based players to create a level playing field. They are all talented, so we need to give them equal chance to compete for the Nigerian jersey. That has been the history and tradition of Nigerian soccer, So the opportunities should be the same. Let them fight for the spots. Whether home or foreign-based, it’s your talent that counts,” observed the minister.

On the friendly against Mexico in the United States, the Minister said “It really gladdened my heart when I heard that the team will be traveling to the USA to play a friendly against Mexico.

“The Friendly is important as you have an opportunity to showcase your talents and also displace some players in the main team. Ensure that when you go out there you make this country proud. I’m sure the NFF will not just make this a show, I’m sure that Nigerians will see between three to six of you eventually end up in the mainstream Super Eagles.

“I watch the professional league very closely, I’ve seen some of the fantastic goals some of you have scored. As I walked into your training, I asked if the five top goal scorers in the domestic league are in this team and I was told that just four of them are in. This is important because a goal is a goal. If you’re placed in the team and you play well you will score goals for this country.

“So you have an opportunity to improve yourself. I’m sure sure when next we play our World Cup qualifiers, we are going to see home and foreign-based players blend together which would mean that this country is maximizing her talents. I’m sure you’ll do the country proud. It might not count with FIFA ranking because It’s friendly but it’s going to count for us,” the minister concluded.

Meanwhile, the sports minister has hinted that more fans will soon be allowed to watch league matches in the country as long as they obey the laid down Covid-19 Protocols.

Dare gave the assurance during his visit to the home-based Eagles training in Abuja on Tuesday.

In the words of the Minister: “We hope to see our fans back in the stadiums as soon as we are assured of established strict Covid- 19 protocols in place. we’ll see what we can do about that. The fans are very important to the game so we shall monitor the situation and work with the relevant agencies to actualize this”.