Chairman of the NFF Technical Committee, Chris Green
The Chairman of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Technical Committee, Christopher Green has dismissed claims that Nigeria lacks quality players that can do the nation proud.
It has been said severally that the Super Eagles are composed largely of average players, and recently regulars such as Vincent Enyeama, Joseph Yobo and new breed, Juwon Oshaniwa have been singled out by the press for not measuring up to the standard of international football.
But Green Sunday disagreed with the critics, pointing out that a lot depends on the form of the team at that moment.
"I don’t think our players are merely average, because what matters most is the form a team comes with," he said at the weekend.
"How do you explain Central Africa Republic eliminating a continental power like Egypt from the AFCON qualifiers, or Cameroon going down 2-0 to Cape Verde?
"I'm confident we have the right calibre of players that can take us where we deserve to be," he added.
The former Sharks of Port Harcourt scribe emphasised that qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations was the priority of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), for now and not necessarily how brilliant the approach play of the team is.
"The most important thing at this point is for Nigeria to be at the 2013 Nations Cup, and then we can now look at how good or bad the team has been playing," he said.
"We're in a jungle now so let’s concentrate on getting out of there.
"Having already drawn 2-2 at away, we have one leg in South Africa and we are focused on finishing the job in the return leg.
"The away draw was okay because Liberia are no pushovers, after all they beat a full strength Ghana 2-0 a couple of days later," he reasoned.
Green further went on to clarify the technical committee does not interfere with the coaches choice of players.
"The coach is at liberty to invite those who would best fit his tactical plan, and it is only when the players fall short of expectations that we can ask questions, though this is an internal matter," he said.
Nigeria play hosts in the return leg of their AFCON final round qualifying tie against Liberia.