BY JUDE OPARA, Abuja
The Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye has said the country was yet to have a national team capable of facing stiff challenges from other great football playing nations.

Gbenga Elegbeleye

Elegbeleye who spoke in Abuja on Monday said the present crop of players in the national team were not qualified to be described as a team because they have not been able to re-enact the qualities for which the Super Eagles are known for.

According to him, assembling 11 players to prosecute a match on behalf of the country does not mean that they are a team because a team should be able to play in a way that will impress its fans even when they don’t win the match.

He frowned at the poor run of the Super Eagles lately, especially the defeat in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State by Flames of Uganda and the draw against the Bafana Bafana of South Africa, a development he said means that the country is only rebuilding and not having a national team yet.

“We do not have a national team yet, we are still in the process of rebuilding, the Super Eagles must be a team that Nigerians can be proud of at all times and not what we presently see. When you lose at home to Uganda and manage a draw against South Africa that does not represent a good result. When you gather 11 people on the field to play does not qualify them to be called a team.”

The Director General however said he was optimistic that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) was doing something about the issue of engaging a quality coach for the Super Eagles because such will help the team to improve on its rebuilding process.