Former Nigeria left-back Celestine Babayaro has blamed Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) head, Amaju Pinnick, for the Super Eagles’ failure to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Nigeria failed to qualify for a seventh World Cup finals after being ousted by Ghana in the playoffs round on the basis of the away goal rule. The Super Eagles drew 0-0 with the Black Stars in the first leg in Kumasi followed by a 1-1 draw in the Abuja National Stadium on Tuesday.
Babayaro who made 27 appearances for Nigeria between 1995-2004 has criticized the team’s spirit under the stewardship of Amaju Pinnick. The former Chelsea star also stated that the current crop of Super Eagles players ‘do not know the history and the rivalry between Nigerian and Ghana’.
“There is no teamwork among the Super Eagles and the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) because there is a situation where only the president is in charge of everything,” said Babayaro.
“The president of the Federation is the Chief Scout of Super Eagles. He has been the one traveling to Europe to convince players who were not born here and don’t know much about Nigerian football to come and play for us.
“How can you bring strangers together and expect them to do the work of brothers? They cannot play with that urgency because they don’t know the history and the rivalry between Nigerian and Ghana and what football means to the average Nigerian.”
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