Warri Wolves Chairman, Godwin Abigor,  is not in any way  asking Coach Stephen Keshi to shut the door against foreign-based players in Eagles.

But he insists that since Keshi is building a team he should “continue to make the local players the nucleus of his team.”

Abigor reacted to yesterday’s 1-0 defeat of the Eagles in Lima, Peru this way: “I think that we need a combination of the local players and their foreign-based counterparts to form a formidable team. But now that Keshi is still building the nucleus of his team should be those he trains regularly and not those who come in two or three days to a match. It is difficult to build that way. And from what is happening all can see that the team is gradually picking up. By the time they learn all the tricks and strike a rhythm they will be difficult to beat because the understanding will be there. What is happening now is good and Keshi must not change his approach because of the defeat in Peru who are a strong side going by their performance in Copa America where they finished third. I’m impressed.”

For the World Cup and Nations Cup qualifiers, Abigor hopes to see at least five local players starting the matches.

“He needs the flair and experience of the players abroad but he surely must not forget the physical attributes of the local players and their determination. And since we are in the building process Keshi must not change. You play friendly matches to learn and from what we have seen the players are learning fast. Few years ago who expected that we could play Peru a country like Peru with local players? It has happened although the likes of Lawal came in the second half showed good stuff. All the defence positions were manned by local players from the beginning to the end. We are getting somewhere and the journey should continue.”

Also speaking on the match, chairman of the technical committee of the football federation, Chris Green commended the players and said the match exposed “the fact that we still need the experience of the foreign-based players and we will never leave them out in our plans.”

He said he sees a strong Eagles team with the likes of Fegor Ogude, Lawal, Joel Obi, Victor Moses joining the team.