We are in Enugu for promotion to NPFL -El-Kanemi coach

We are in Enugu for promotion to NPFL -El-Kanemi coach

By Vincent Akinba

Coach Zubairu of El-Kanemi Warriors of Maiduguri said the gaining promotion to the Premier League is not negotiable.

Speaking to www.sportsunlimited.ng after his team walked over Gombe United in the Federation Cup Round of 32 at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna the coach spoke glowing about his team's preparedness for the NNL Super 8 coming in Enugu.

He said he had made it clear In his previous interviews and when he took the job with El-Kanemi that anything short of promotion will be a bad news.

"Promotion to Premier League is not negotiable. Certainly we are getting back to the Premier League. I think we have worked hard for it," he said.

Talking about the season and the league organisation, he said the NNL season has been very good compared to the previous season.

"This NNL season has been very good compared to the previous season. I believe the board did very well.

"We should commend the NNL board members for the a nice job, particularly in the area of officiating. I think they did very well, the referees were upright, that you go to any ground and win your matches so long as you have the team that had the quality. I think we should commend the NNL board for doing a job well done."

He also spoke about the inclusion of home based players into the main squad of the Super Eagles.

"We have always done well with element of home based players. I don't know why we are deviating from that. Finidi George, as the Super Eagles coach, is a product of the same system. When Westerhoof discovered him, he was still playing at home, so he should be able to do the same thing. We not saying half of the team should be home based but two, three players is not too much. Football is same thing everywhere, the only difference could be facility and financial strength but that is not taking anything away in terms of talent in the players they will do better.

"So I believe he should look inward and pick one or two. When I say one or two, it should be one or two that play and not the ones to be sitting on the bench but encouraged to be playing. It a slap on the league both NPFL and NNL if we can not have one or two playing for the Super Eagles," he expressed.