Oliseh believes that the Nigerian League is not doing enough to produce top talents that can rub shoulders with the best in the world,highlighting inexperience as the reason why the Super Eagles lost to both Uruguay and Spain.
“Our league is not solid enough to produce players to beat the world right now. Even the South African league with it’s high level organisation is still not doing enough to produce world beaters,” the former Borussia Dortmund skipper told supersport.com.
Oliseh who is acting as a pundit for the FIFA Confederations Cup on satellite station,Supersports, noted that the Nigerian league is no longer what it used to be.
“What was the state of our league in 1990, 1991 or 1992? Our league was solid, games were jam-packed with fans and it was easy for a player to leave the Nigerian league and within three weeks play in the first team for top European clubs. That is not happening today,” he said.
GistPlaza.com also learnt that Oliseh was unhappy with the kind of wholesale changes made with the team. He said that the tournament offered us an opportunity to strengthen the team we had at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Oliseh who captained Nigeria to the France 98 FIFA World Cup,also added that Nigeria was the architect of it’s own failure.
“The preparations and turbulence with money issues, arriving late, jet-lag (all contributed to their failure). We blew hot and cold. We had opportunity of beating Tahiti 10-0 or 11-1.”
“We dominated Uruguay but not in critical spaces. Uruguay were comfortable to sit back and absorb the pressure, choosing to counter attack.”
“There are positives to take out of their performance; one player who stood out was Mikel Obi. He did better than even his AFCON display. Maybe it’s time to find another reliable defensive midfielder to allow him (Mikel) the freedom to become our Xavi type of player who dominates play. He can’t be a number 10 but can be the anchor.
“If we had (Emmanuel) Emenike in this tournament, we would have advanced to the next round.
“When people complain about foreign-based players and commitment, we should also look at the reasons why (someone like) Emenike was unhappy after complaining about being neglected following injuries he sustained while playing for Nigeria at the Nations Cup. Next year, if you invite this player and he does not respond, you might term him unpatriotic.”
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