His critique widened to include Osimhen’s earlier public comments attacking former Super Eagles coach Finidi George. While acknowledging Osimhen’s value, Oliseh stressed that no player is bigger than the national team.
“Scoring goals for Nigeria doesn’t give you a licence to disrespect certified legends like Finidi George or Victor Ikpeba. It doesn’t give you the right to disrespect your coaches or teammates,” he said. “If goals alone justified arrogance, what should the legends who put Nigeria at the pinnacle of world football, like Amokachi, Amunike, Okocha, Babangida and myself, do? Walk on people’s heads?”
Oliseh warned that continued indiscipline and poor administration would damage the team’s future: “If we don’t fix the discipline and the administration, there won’t be a Super Eagles left to support.”
He also criticised the celebrations that followed Nigeria’s third-place finish, when the Super Eagles beat Egypt on penalties.
“There was a time the Super Eagles shed tears at second place, because to us anything but the trophy was a failure; celebrating third place built a culture of mediocrity,” he said.
