Former Super Eagles goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama, has opened up on his cryptic message about being in the Super Eagles camp for the upcoming AFCON in Ivory Coast, saying the move is personal and not to train the goalkeepers that will be on parade for Nigeria when the tournament kicks off 13 January.
Enyeama dropped a puzzling message via Instagram on Sunday, hinting he could join the technical crew of the national team when the camp opened on Tuesday in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
He wrote, “Let’s go, see you in camp. Time for business” while reacting to a post about the team’s AFCON preparations on the official Instagram account of the Super Eagles.
On Tuesday, he shed light on his supposed engagement with the team.
“I haven’t been given any appointment by the NFF, neither was there any such discussion. That was only a personal comment meaning I will visit them in camp when I attend the AFCON. Any opportunity to encourage the lads, I use it”, the former Eagles captain said.
Ahead of their quest for a fourth AFCON title, the Eagles camp opened on Tuesday in Abu Dhabi. The camp will last till 9 January, before the team departs for Ivory Coast from Lagos on 10 January.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has also denied adding the former goalkeeper to the Eagles technical crew, ahead of the tournament.
“NFF has not offered Enyeama any role. People should stop the bruiting of this very fake news. It is annoying. If there is anything like that, there would be a statement from the NFF”, NFF Director of Media and Communications, Ademola Olajire, told OwnGoalNigeria.com.
Enyeama has distanced himself from the Eagles, since calling it quits unceremoniously in 2015.
Recently, the 41-year-old spoke about how NFF’s poor treatment led to his retirement from the team at 33.
The former Lille goalkeeper said he was deeply hurt by the treatment but added that he had moved on from holding any grudges.
“Sincerely, I have not been following Nigerian football right from the day I left. With due respect, I was treated like a piece of used material, so I put up a block between me and the national team.
“It is now that I am beginning to follow what is going on but I put a stop to watching football or watching the national team.
“I was deeply hurt but now I am really at ease. I have moved, I’ve changed chapters, I’ve changed the page. This is it, I can’t say much about the national team and the goalkeeping and all of that because I am not watching them”, Enyeama said in an interview with HotSports.
Enyeama made his debut for the Eagles in May 2002 and went on to make 101 appearances for the national team, winning the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.
He is regarded as Nigeria’s most successful goalkeeper after playing in five Nations Cup in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2013 – and was also part of the Nigeria squad at the 2002, 2010, and 2014 World Cup tournaments.
The Eagles, in their quest for a fourth continental title, will take on Equatorial Guinea on 14 January in their first match of Group A, before further clashes with host nation Ivory Coast four days later, against Guinea Bissau in their final group game on 22 January.
The Eagles are participating in the Africa Cup of Nations for the 20th time, were champions as hosts in 1980, triumphant in Tunisia in 1994, and crowned winners in South Africa in 2013.
