Garba Lawal bemoans absence of competition in Super Eagles
A former Super Eagles utility player, Garba Lawal has bemoaned the lack of quality competition for shirts in the current Super Eagles squad….
David Ngobua
A former Super Eagles utility player, Garba Lawal has bemoaned the lack of quality competition for shirts in the current Super Eagles squad.
Speaking exclusively to Daily Trust, the versatile ex-international said the present Super Eagles players don’t offer the kind of competition for spots in the team as it was during his playing time.
The former Kaduna United General Manager stated further that football has evolved as the game used to be learnt on the streets while questioning the mentality of modern-day footballers.
“The growth of the national team depends on the current generation of players we have. It boils down to attitude and ability, it’s all about raw talents. Do we have the raw talents as before? That is the question I ask myself day in day out. I don’t see those kinds of players as before.
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“Nobody teaches you how to play football, you learn from the street. Football has changed. Look at the Dutch league. We no longer see the quality as it was. Even the Brazilian team is changing, it is not like before.
“As it stands now, there is no competition in the Super Eagles. In our time, there was heavy competition in each department,” he stated.
Lawal who is regarded as one of the most versatile players in the Nigeria national team of the late 1990s and early 2000s and was used for any position ranging from defence was a member of the 1996 Olympic gold winning team.
He played 57 times while representing Nigeria at four editions of African Cup of Nations 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006, scoring in all but the first.