Okocha Defends Oliseh; Says Don't Judge Him With CHAN

Former Nigeria captain Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha has urged Nigerians to exercise patience with the Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh, who's currently in South Africa, preparing for Nigeria's second appearance at the championship.

The former Bolton Wanderers creative midfielder also said that CHAN should not be a yard stick to judge the Belgium based-Nigerian coach.

Okocha said that all Oliseh needed right now is total support from all Nigerians and leave him to carry out his duty, but also chipped this in that he hopes the former Borrusia Dortmund defensive midfielder was the right person for the job.

“Well, I can’t set any target for the Super Eagles and coach Sunday Oliseh as far as the African Nations Championship is concerned,” Okocha told Goal.

“Oliseh is my friend and he is my colleague. I think he’s got all it takes to get us back on track. We don’t have to use the CHAN to judge him. We just need to encourage and support him and let him do his thing.

“Hopefully he is the right person to take us to where we want.”

The 1994 African Cup of Nations winner said that he's unperturbed with the recent position of the national team, adding that you can't be high up at all times.

“I have no fears as regards the Super Eagles’ position as 66th best in the world and 14th best in Africa because big countries and big teams go through difficult periods,” he said.

“Honestly speaking, we are going through rough periods but there is nothing to be ashamed of.  We just need to work hard to be back to where we rightly belong.

“It is a challenge because our results recently have been poor. We just need to accept it and fight our way back to the top.”

After the CHAN tournament, Nigeria will return to their hunt for a ticket to the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) against Egypt.

“As regards the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, I believe that the Super Eagles can qualify but we have to do our homework well to achieve this. We have to accept first of all that we are no longer who we used to be. We have to humble ourselves and realize that we are starting afresh. Once we accept our fate at the moment I think we will qualify,” Okocha said.

“As regards the way forward for the Super Eagles and Nigeria football, the way forward is to accept our fate like I said, to humble ourselves and to realize the fact that things are no longer the way they used to be. Once we accept that I think that it would be a great beginning for us,” he concluded. Goal