Russia 2018: Adepoju on the Super Eagles and Enyeama

Ex-Super Eagles player, Mutiu Adepoju was full of praise for the current crop of Super Eagles players who qualified Nigeria for the 2018 World Cup in Russia; as he shared his thoughts on the team.

On the manner of qualification, the retired midfielder and now La Liga Nigeria Ambassador said: “Well, we’ve already congratulated them and they did very well.” Adepoju was speaking with www.aclsports.com during the NFF/AITEO Awards night.

“When everybody was thinking it was going to be tough, they started very well and finished very well. It was a good one and I believe it is one of the good things to come in the world cup.”

That said, he however refused to get ahead of himself in terms of ranking or rating the team with other teams Nigeria has had at the World Cup. He stressed that there shouldn’t be any need for that as for instance during their time, they played their part and “who knows how far they (current Super Eagles) are going to go?”

So how far do you think they are going to go? “How far, I cannot tell. I cannot say. I can’t predict, but I believe if all the plans the NFF is putting in place are well executed and the players are in good form, I believe they are going to go far,” he said.

There have been calls for the introduction of a few other players who probably didn’t play during the qualification series and here’s what Mutiu thinks about new additions to the squad.

“Let me tell you: the coach knows what he wants. The coach wants to take the best legs to the World Cup and all the players are doing their best. The players that the coach fields should count themselves lucky and I believe they worked for it that’s why they are in the team.

“I believe all the players will put up their best because every player wants to play at the World Cup. So I believe it’s going to be very tough for the coach and the players too because they have to put up their best to be taken to the World Cup.”

Finally, the talk of Vincent Enyeama’s recall has also been a thing among football fans in Nigeria and here is what the headmaster has to say about it.

“I don’t want to talk about a particular player. Vincent is a very good player. I don’t want to talk about him. It’s the coach that’s going to talk about him. There’s no doubt that Vincent has been good when he was with Nigeria. He’s still a great goalkeeper. It depends on the coach and him.

“What about if the coach wants him and he doesn’t want to come? So let’s not talk about individuality but there’s no doubt Vincent is one of the best goalkeepers we’ve had but it depends on the coach,” he added.