Every once in a while, we go thru this grand standing about how we are neglecting several Okochas hiding under the bridge!
But in reality its a lot of horse manure!!!
Look at the players in our youth teams, 95% of whom are home-based players. Look at their quality and understanding of the game- NOT the talent. Just look at their overall understanding of the game. Almost to a man it is based on self-help....
The peeps here jerking off about HB players in the SE, WE CANNOT find a decent goalkeeper for the SE, and had to use a player from the reserve side of a Segunda B team.
And you are telling me about reserving spots for HB players? What a retarded thought!!!!!!!!!!!! Just stupid!!!! Stupid!!!
You have to look deeper at the issues, the root cause of the problem I have said it here for years that the Nigerian domestic game is not developing players. Every time I raise it up folks who don't have a clue start giving irrelevant examples...
To reverse this trend requires the kind of systemic effort we are incapable of in Nigeria.
Yes, Pinnick deserves blame for not leading on this issue; he has overall responsibility for development of the game in Nigeria and thus deserves blame; but it goes way beyond him.
To expect any coach or NFF in this circumstance to not focus on the one area where our football is growing- the diaspora, does not make sense. It amounts to tying one hand to the back and expecting to win a swimming contest!
The world is changing, and so is football. The sources of players for the NT today transcends our international boundaries. There is a Nigerian diaspora football like we have never had before.
Peeps need to get used to it. People need to understand that the nature of citizenship has changed.
It's not a choice between Oloye's son (hoping he doesn't inherit those slide tackling skills

) and Ikpeba's. That's not how to look at it. Neither is it about creating artificial quotas. Where does it end? A quota for starting shirts?
There is a legitimate, BUT SEPARATE issue about development of the local game. That is a major issue that requires to be addressed by itself...