By KATE OBODO

As the Super Eagles face another  test against Botswana on Saturday at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City, former  Eagles player Chukwu Ndukwe has urged newly contracted coach, Stephen Keshi to ensure that only in-form and  ‘hungry’ players are selected for the match.

Ndukwe, who scored the first goal in Nigeria’s 2-2 draw with Cameroon in 2000 Nations Cup at the National Stadium, Lagos, advised that Keshi should ensure his selection of  players should be on merit.

He said,“there are a lot of  things  that caused  the recent free fall of our football. This  starts from the administrators, players attitude towards their coach and  the poor structure in our football, it is  not only a coaching problem.”

“The Super Eagles could not qualify  for the 2012 Nations Cup, the Falcons and the U-23 team  also did not qualify  for the All  African Games. The Eagles exit from the Nations Cup should  not to be blamed on one person alone. We also need to  look at the players attitude to their coach,   their fitness and coming late to the camp. Some of these players are not good but are selected because they play in big clubs or in Europe.

“I think, when selecting players this time around,  merit should be the focus. Before selecting any player, the question should be, is the player in form and  capable?  I think what  he(Keshi) should do is to ensure the players compete for shirt. He should  also ensure that there is discipline in the team. These will enable them want to do well in competitions, ” he said

Ndukwe added that “playing against Botswana is a good thing  as there are no longer  small teams as we used to say. For now they have an edge over us because they qualified for the Nations Cup while we did not. All the same, I think we should start all over again and put the Nations Cup loss behind us.”