President of the Nigeria Football Federation Amaju Pinick has stated that preparations for the Super Eagles international friendlies against Cote d’Ivoire and Tunisia were going on well and according to him, the Football Federation’s plan was to bring more youngsters to the national team.
Speaking in a chat with brila.net, Pinnick said the list of invited players had been released for everyone to see. “It shows our desire to have more young players handed the opportunity to impress and make their mark in the national team”.
He added that the Federation also hoped that the top games would help boost Nigeria’s FIFA ranking.
“It’s just a tune-up game and they provide ample opportunity for us to see some of the new players that we are inviting to the team. “It’s just a camp and you know we want to play top teams so that we can improve, or at least maintain our FIFA rankings.
Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr has said the national team’s improvement in the FIFA World Ranking is a sign of good developments to come. The team has been on a steady rise since Rohr took over from Sunday Oliseh. In the latest ranking, the Super Eagles have moved to the 29th position in the world and 3rd on the African log.
“When I arrived we were not number three (in Africa). We were much lower. So, it’s good to see we are in the right way,” Rohr told ESPN. “I think we can be a little bit proud of it, but we have to still work a lot to get better. We want to be better all the time.” Rohr said.
