Exposure of home-based Eagles good for Nigeria – Rufai

By  Ime Bassey
Former Super Eagles goalkeeper and U-23 Eagles team coordinator, Peter Rufai has said that the  approach the Nigerian Football Association has taken in giving the Super Eagles friendlies and tournaments is a good omen for the national team and it will definitely yield fruits in future.

Speaking with Saturday Vanguard Sports, Dodo Mayana, as Rufai is fondly called by his fans, said the games will give the players the needed exposure and place them in a class of another glorious Eagles to be jealous of.

He expressed his joy with the various national teams performance so far as he appealed to Nigerians to support  the NFA board.

“The WAFU Cup for me is good for the home based players as the NFA has thought it right to allow them use the platform to gather experience and show case their innate talent which will come to bear in the future. The development of the game with respect to the players comes with playing games regularly.

“I am happy with what is happening now in our football, this shows the concern for development as we try to improve on our past lapses. This will go a long way to show that heads are being put together to transform our football image from what it used to be and even more, although much work still needs to be done.

“We intend to celebrate the results and forget the people in the various departments who are working tooth and nail to make sure all theses things happen,” Rufai said.

The former Stationary Stores goalkeeper said Nigerians should be pleased with the labor of those on the NFA board and at least show them some support.

“We should try and learn from our past mistakes and appreciate everybody’s efforts in the NFA, from the top to the bottom, because if anything goes bad now, we all will cry out again, pointing fingers. We should do the best to support those that are putting things in place to get us this far in terms of success in almost all   the teams both male and female,” Rufai added.