That the Super Eagles of Nigeria whalloped the Falcons of Sao Tome and Principe by six goals to nil in a dead rubber AFCON qualifier at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium Uyo is no longer news, neither is it news that the Super Eagles defeated same team by ten goals to nil in an earlier fixture of the AFCON qualifiers played in their home ground. 

But, what continued to puzzle many Nigerians is that the NFF invited as much as 22 foreign based players, with only one reserve goalkeeper from home. They argue that a full compliments of players from the NPFL would have prosecuted that match effectively, and got same positive results needed. They said that that would have given the NPFL players the opportunity to exhibit their talents. They argued further that NFF that are always going cap in hand looking for money to carry out most of their activities would have saved a lot from that match. They argued that facing the worst team in the AFCON qualifiers with a house full of foreign based players, was a waste of an opportunity to make the national team more competitive. 

 It was a former handler and Captain of the team Christian Chukwu who  fired the first salvo.  Christian Chukwu, had advised the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) that since the Eagles had already booked their ticket to the AFCON, the coaches should start working on discovering more home-based players to be injected into the main Super Eagles team.

He noted that the apathy to home-based players in the Super Eagles have deprived many talents the opportunity for  exposure that they needed to raise their games to the next levels. 

“The NFF should not have wasted the tax payers’ money to invite foreign-based players for the Sao Tome game because whether they win or lose, they will still be at the AFCON". 

“This game against Sao Tome should have been for the home-based players and we have abundant talents that can compete well with the foreign-based players. But the fact remains that they are not exposed in the Super Eagles.
“With proper blending of the home-based players and quality coaching, they will beat Sao Tome"

However, the NFF Director of Media, Ademola Olajire, explained that the game against Sao Tome served as one of the preparatory matches for the forthcoming 2026 World Cup qualifiers, which begin in November.

He opined that the coaches  used the match to test some players ahead of the 2024 African Cup of Nations billed to hold in Cote d’Ivoire.

The Head coach of the Super Eagles, Jose Peseiro further buttress this position, saying that there is no time to gather the players together before the competition in January.

“You know the national team is not a club where you have enough time to build your team. You spend days, weeks and months together.

“For us, we just have to make use of the transfer windows to work together. After now, we will be together again in October before the World Cup qualifiers start in November.

“So, now we are thinking about building a more cohesive team", he said.

Give or take, anyone fully involved in the game knows that it will be extremely difficult to invite the NPFL players to the national team now. The league has been on recess since May, and players have been moving from one club to another. Many are busy playing one Preseason or the other. The inconsistency in date of commencement has always been a bane to the the league. No coach will want to put his head in a guillotine by inviting home based players for such a match. 

Box 18 believes that playing the Falcons of Sao Tome and Principe with a full compliment of foreign based players is not a wasteful venture, but a proper thing for the Coaches to prepare for the task ahead. The World Cup qualifiers and winning the African Nations Cup proper can not be compromised.