Ajibade Olusesan 
Ex-international, Bright Omokaro, has described the Nigeria Football Federation’s (NFF) decision to have newly-appointed Eric Chelle lead the home-based Super Eagles to the forthcoming African Nations Championship (CHAN) as a potential game-changer.
Omokaro believes the move shows the NFF may be laying a foundation for the rebuilding of the Eagles with domestic league players.
Omokaro said a focus on local players could bring long-term benefits to Nigerian football.
“I think the NFF has done well by saying that the new coach should start with the home-based team. This could be the foundation of a solid Super Eagles because in the past, we had a mix of local and foreign-based players, and it worked well for us. If Chelle can find the right talents from the local league that will work with their foreign counterparts, we could return to those glory days. He has to go around the country like Clemens Westerhof did and discover local players who will become international stars.
You can’t rely entirely on foreign-based players; let’s tell ourselves the truth, how many of our foreign-based professionals are playing regularly for their clubs? We have to build from home, you can see what our boys did against Ghana in CHAN qualifiers, the hunger, the passion was there,” he said.
Omokaro said that Chelle, an African coach with experience managing teams on the continent, could bring fresh ideas to help the Eagles.
“I can’t criticize a coach who hasn’t done anything. They have appointed him and we just have to give him the chance to work. I have always said that those foreign coaches are not helping us but this is an African and if you notice, all the teams that have done well in Africa are managed by Africans. Let’s hope this new man will do well,” he added.
