The former Super Eagles star Jay-Jay Okocha has told Goal.com that the current national players need to persuade the public that they care about playing for their national team.
Okocha says that questions will be asked about the passion of Nigeria’s players following their exit from the Africa Cup of Nations.
The reigning champions failed to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations 2015 finals after drawing 2-2 with South Africa in Uyo on Wednesday, marking a second exit before the tournament proper in three editions.
While Stephen Keshi’s future has already been called into question, Okocha believes the players have to take some of the responsibility.
“I think, to be honest, we will always produce talented players. But perhaps the question is whether they have the same passion that they used to have,” Okocha told Goal. “People are pressuring them about that, you know, because sometimes it seems as if they don’t really care much about the result.”
Wednesday’s result combined with Congo’s 1-0 win in Sudan to extinguish Nigeria’s final hopes, but Okocha said they had made it hard for themselves earlier in the campaign.
“Of course it was down to our bad spot, even if we were still in with a chance,” he added. “I think sometimes players must have a wake-up call before they realize they are back in African football. They left themselves get into a difficult position.”
Okocha who won 75 caps for Nigeria believes that the Super Eagles could have gone on to perform very well in the finals in Equatorial Guinea had they qualified amongst the final 16 teams.
“I have no doubt that had we managed to qualify we would have had a good tournament, because you have to play really well once it comes to the tournament itself. The qualifiers are sometimes a bit tricky here in Africa, so I think if they had qualified they would have had a good tournament.”
Okocha is currently an ambassador for Western Union’s ‘Pass for School’ programme which will see funding made towards better education every time somebody posts an old photograph of themselves in a childhood sports photo to Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #PassForSchool.
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