Former Super Eagles coach Austine Eguavoen says the players are to blame for going on strike just days before their World Cup playoff against Gabon, SportPremi reports.
Nigeria and Gabon clash in Morocco in the CAF playoffs semifinal on Thursday evening, with the winner of the tie facing either Cameroon or the Democratic Republic of Congo in the other semifinal clash on Sunday.
Some of the players named in head coach Eric Chelle’s 24-man squad for the crucial qualifying clash arrived in the training camp on Monday, while the remaining set of players joined up with the squad on Tuesday.
Despite holding a training session on Monday, the players boycotted Tuesday’s training session after clashing with the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) over unpaid bonuses.
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Captain William Troost-Ekong, who confirmed the strike on Tuesday, also announced on Wednesday that the players had returned to training after receiving all outstanding payments from the NFF.
Why did the Super Eagles squad boycott training?
Following the arrival of every member of the 24-man squad on Tuesday, there was no training session held after the players refused to participate due to a backlog of unpaid bonuses.
The players had demanded the payment of their unpaid wages and bonuses, with some owed as far back as 2019.
“The full squad, including officials, withheld from training today in Morocco because of unresolved issues with outstanding payments.Â
“The Super Eagles are awaiting a quick resolution to continue their preparations for Thursday’s game against Gabon. Thank you. From the players.”
Once resolution is found we will be the first to confirm. All we want and continue to do is focus on the big games ahead.”
Eguavoen blasts players over training boycott
Speaking in an interview ahead of the clash, Eguavoen who was once at the dugout of the Nigerian football team, expressed disappointment with the attitude of the players ahead of such a crucial encounter.
“These boys that I know, that I have worked with, want to go to the FIFA World Cup. The aspiration of every professional footballer is to play at the World Cup and enhance their market value”, Eguavoen said.
The timing of the strike was wrong. They might have had their reasons but the timing was not the best.”
However, he expressed confidence in their abilities to defeat the Panthers and book a spot in Sunday’s final.
“Having said that, I have faith in them to rise up to the occasion and do the business on Thursday, and afterwards, on Sunday”, he added.
Nigeria will hope to defeat Gabon on Thursday, to keep their hopes of reaching next year’s World Cup alive.
