Sports
Nigeria Is Bigger Than Any Player – Kanu
Nwankwo Kanu is unmoved following England handing Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori international call-ups.
Gareth Southgate included the duo in the Three Lions’ squad to face the Czech Republic and Bulgaria in October’s Euro 2020 qualification games, to end the question on where the Chelsea stars will commit their international allegiance.
Abraham, 22, who has been in rich scoring form for Frank Lampard’s side had been capped by the Europeans in friendlies against Germany and Brazil, while Tomori who is also eligible to feature for Canada has played 15 times for English U21’s.
This development, however, did not come as a shock to the Arsenal great as he feels the Super Eagles have array of stars to count on if the duo dumps Nigeria.
“Our problem is that whenever someone starts doing well, we start chasing them which is not bad because other countries do that,” Kanu told Tidesports source.
“I feel we don’t need to force people to play for the country, because Nigeria is bigger than any player.
“We have quality players everywhere so we can’t continue to beg one player to play for us. Nigeria cannot beg, players have to beg Nigeria.
“The best way to always go about this is talking to them to play for their fatherland.
“If they do, it’s good for us and if they don’t we move on. That’s football and I think we have enough and we can win matches without them.”
England is currently sitting top of Group A on 12 points, having won all four of their ties to date.
For Nigeria, they try Brazil for size in a high-profile friendly in Singapore on October 13.
Iwobi spoke to Tidesports source ahead of Nigeria’s crunch playoff semi-final against Gabon on Thursday, November 13, in Rabat, Morocco.
The 28-year-old was reacting to Nigeria’s shaky World Cup qualifying campaign that saw the Eagles finish second in Group C behind South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
“We’ve managed to rescue ourselves from the dead,” Iwobi told Tidesports source.
We know we have the players and the abilities to compete against any other country in the world.”
The Fulham star pointed to Nigeria’s star power, highlighting African Footballer of the Year winners Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen as proof of the squad’s quality.
“We have last year’s African best player (Ademola Lookman), the year before that (Victor Osimhen),” he said.
“It’ll be a shame if we don’t make it, but we have a lot of confidence. We just have to prove it to ourselves.”
Nigeria’s path to the United States, Canada and Mexico has been turbulent, with two coaches departing during the early stages of qualifying before Éric Chelle steadied the ship to steer the Super Eagles into November’s CAF playoffs.
Four nations from the continent – Nigeria, Cameroon, DR Congo and Gabon – will vie for a solitary spot to compete in next March’s inter-confederation playoffs, with a view to joining the already nine qualified African nations at the Finals.
It would mark Iwobi’s second appearance at the World Cup Finals and the Super Eagles’ first since the 2018 edition of the competition.
Back then, Iwobi featured in all three games as Nigeria was knocked out in the group stage.
The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) and Publisher of the Atlantic Bell Online medium, Mr. Celestine Ogolo has advised sports writers in Nigeria to diversify in sports writing and not to concentrate on football reporting alone.
The Deputy National President of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Mr. Bonny Nyong has expressed commitment to support sports development and move SWAN forward.