FORMER international, Etim Esin has kicked against the idea of parading foreign-based players in the national U-23 team saying that it connotes a vote of no confidence in Nigerian League players.Reacting to the Dream Team's failure to win the London 2012 Olympics ticket in Morocco, Etim said in Lagos that Nigerians soccer fans have nothing to celebrate as this year runs out."The truth of the matter is that Eguavoen, with his team, has refused to give soccer fans in Nigeria a Christmas present. Why must we have to use foreign-based players in the U-23 team in the first place' It doesn't make sense to me."The Olympics ticket is gone and we will not also participate in the Nations Cup after so many years, it's quite sad. Everything is not going well with our football and we have to concentrate more on grassroots now to discover fresh talents."We all started football here before moving to Europe and I don't see any reason why we cannot allow home-based players to take over the U-23 team.How do we encourage local players when we rely too much on foreign-based players for age group competitions' I don't support this system," said Etim, a member of the Flying Eagles squad to the 1987 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile.Meanwhile, former Super Assistant coach, Joe Erico, has declared that the result posted by Nigeria was a true reflection of the team paraded in Morocco."You cannot give what you don't have. We lost to Senegal because we played against fitter and younger players drawn from an academy in Dakar. Until we realise the importance of monitoring players progress right from the soccer academy, we would always have problem with age group competitions because other countries are not taking this aspect with levity," Erico, told Sunday Tribunesports at the National Stadium, Lagos.
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