Babayaro warns Keshi, players back him

Former Super Eagles goalkeeper Emmanuel Babayaro has advised coach Stephen Keshi not to adopt sentiment when selecting his final squad to play Rwanda in a 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Kigali on February 29.

Keshi has invited 30 players from the domestic league ahead of a friendly tie with Liberia on February 15 and hopes to name his squad, which will include Europe-based players, after the encounter. Babayaro, however, believes only selection based on merit will help the team excel at the top level.

“I’m happy to see that Keshi is using the players in the Nigerian league to build the Eagles. It’s been long since that happened in the team, but Keshi has done the right things since taking charge by instilling confidence in the team,” Babayaro said.

“But I’ll advise him to make his selection based on merit. The average Nigerian is a sentimental person so it’s always easy for some coaches to overlook merit when selecting players.”

Babayaro added, “If the domestic league players had trained together for long, the way Keshi is doing, and had they been the ones that played the qualifiers for the 2012 Nations Cup, Nigeria would have qualified.

“That doesn’t mean we don’t need the foreign-based players in the squad. In fact, they are very important in the team. The profile of our foreign-based players could intimidate our opponents anytime. But we should have the best of the domestic league players through gradual integration.”

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